On view at the Getty Center from February 27 through May 19, 2024, this exhibition of works spans almost 1,000 years, highlighting how the imagery of blood has the power to provoke provocative themes and ideas across time and place, illuminating instances of both connection and rupture.
“The universality of blood in the human experience and in portrayals of religious, historical, and mythological events makes it a compelling, if often marginalized, topic for an exhibition, offering visitors the opportunity to connect ideas across disparate eras and cultures,” says Timothy Potts, Maria Hummer-Tuttle and Robert Tuttle Director of the Getty Museum. “Here presenting medieval works in conversation with contemporary ones, this exhibition explores some of the many literal and symbolic meanings that blood has for medieval and 21st-century audiences alike.”
In medieval Europe (about 500–1500), blood played vital and varied roles in the realms of religion, medicine, and politics. Surviving manuscripts and books from the era attest to its importance as a miraculous, holy medium in Christian devotional practice, as a means for diagnosing and treating disease, as evidence of noble status, and in depictions of violent acts that were often targeted and persecutory. The works on view reveal these medieval ideas and beliefs about blood while also offering opportunities to reflect on current conversations.
“Blood was such an important idea for medieval people; it really sits at the center of so many different kinds of conversations, both practical, in terms of medicine and lineage, but also spiritual, as a physical means of accessing the divine,” says Larisa Grollemond, assistant curator of manuscripts at the Getty Museum. “There was a real opportunity with this exhibition to show how artists are still thinking about blood as a powerful symbol, and using it to think through contemporary issues, everything from gender identity and self-definition to political discourses.”
The first section of the exhibition, Devotion, introduces how blood and bleeding wounds had a significant visual presence and potent meaning in late medieval Christian devotion. Manuscripts and books depicted Christ’s bleeding wounds in explicit, visceral images meant to heighten the emotional response of devotees. Especially in personal prayer books, such imagery including hand and side wounds, conveyed the intensity of Christ’s physical suffering.
Medicine shares how the Middle Ages saw a lively medical discourse about blood, ranging from the practical treatment of disease through blood analysis, bloodletting as a cure, menstruation, and a growing understanding of the human circulatory system.
Genealogy focuses on medieval era familial bloodlines, known as the basis of a system that granted special privileges to an elite class. The visual arts were often harnessed to record, demonstrate, and preserve genealogical legitimacy, following biblical models of ancestry and lineage that undergirded the prevailing notion of hierarchy.
Lastly, Violence showcases manuscripts and books exploring the idea for many different ends, using blood as evidence of injury, pain, capital sin, and vengeance. Some images explicitly show its human cost when deployed for political aims, including war; others often represent horrific crimes, even murder, performed in the context of Christian faith.
Throughout the exhibition, works by contemporary artists who have used the potent visual connotations of blood to explore issues of feminism, HIV/AIDS, and the science of DNA appear in dialogue with medieval examples. Works by Catherine Opie, Andres Serrano, Nan Goldin, Jordan Eagles, and the art collective MSCHF with rapper Lil Nas X, among others, will be on view.
To complement the exhibition, Getty will host There Will Be Blood: A Symposium, a two-day symposium in collaboration with USC's Center for the Premodern World on March 1st and 2nd; bringing together renowned international scholars, curators, and artists to explore the role of blood in the social, artistic, and scientific dialogues of the Middle Ages.
In addition, Illuminations, an immersive pop-up installation by contemporary artist Jordan Eagles, will be presented in conjunction with There Will Be Blood: A Symposium. On view in the Museum Entrance Hall at the Getty Center from March 1 to March 3, the installation invites visitors to contemplate the continuing impact of HIV/AIDS and LGBTQI+ equality.
Blood: Medieval/Modern is curated by Larisa Grollemond, assistant curator of manuscripts at the Getty Museum.