Sculpture & Decorative Arts
Our Team
Anne-Lise Desmas
Senior Curator, Department Head
A specialist in European sculpture before 1900, with emphasis on French and Italian sculpture of the 17th and 18th centuries, Anne-Lise received her Diplôme de Recherche from the École du Louvre and her Ph.D. in art history from Paris-IV Sorbonne (see her book Le ciseau et la tiare, 2013). She joined the Getty Museum in 2008 and has worked on several exhibitions and catalogues, including Bernini and the Birth of Baroque Portrait Sculpture (2008) and Bouchardon: Royal Artist of the Enlightenment (2016). Her research also focuses on the history of collecting and treatises on sculpture techniques in 18th-century France. She is currently preparing a catalogue dedicated to the Museum's collection of French sculpture.
Amanda Berman
Curatorial Assistant
Amanda’s research focuses on the Getty’s permanent collection, particularly the neoclassical decorative arts. She holds degrees from Hamilton College and the Cooperstown Graduate Program for Museum Studies. Amanda joined the Getty in 2018 after working at museums as disparate as the Adams National Historical Park, Colonial Williamsburg, and the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Her research areas include 18th-century furniture, historic preservation and architectural history, and issues of accessibility and inclusion in curatorial practice.
Dennis Martinez
Senior Staff Assistant
Dennis coordinates the Sculpture and Decorative Arts Department’s administrative, fiscal, and operational functions. He holds a BA in art from Cal Poly Pomona and studied at the graduate film school at NYU Tisch School of the Arts. Prior to joining the Museum, he held positions at USC and UCLA and is a longtime practitioner in the visual arts and music.
Miriam Schefzyk
Associate Curator
Miriam is an expert on French decorative arts of the 17th and 18th centuries. She completed a joint PhD program in art history at the University of Münster (Germany) and the École pratique des Hautes Études in Paris (France) and published her thesis in 2022 ("Migration and Integration in the 18th Century Paris: Martin Carlin and the German Ébénistes"). Her research focuses on artistic mobility, especially on the migration of German ébénistes (cabinetmakers) to Paris, furniture and interiors from 1650 to 1800, the social history of the artist, materiality, and gender. After working at the Cultural Foundation for the German Federal States, the German Center for Art History in Paris and the Museum for Decorative Arts in Berlin, Miriam joined the Getty in 2023.
Jeffrey Weaver
Associate Curator
Jeffrey is a specialist of decorative arts focusing on the Getty Museum’s collections of Italian maiolica, French ceramics, European glass, and medieval and Renaissance stained glass. He shares the responsibilities of managing the collection of 17th- and 18th-century European decorative arts. Educated at the University of Cincinnati and Case Western Reserve University, Jeffrey joined the Getty Museum in 1991. He has worked on a number of exhibitions, including Casting Nature: François-Thomas Germain’s Machine d’Argent (2006) and Canterbury and St. Albans: Treasures from Church and Cloister (2013).