Most Popular Getty Stories from 2021
Funny phalluses, mysterious gems, and more!
Statue of a Standing Comic Actor, 200–100 BC, Greek. Bronze, 4 13/16 in. Getty Museum, 96.AB.155
Body Content
What a pleasure to look back on the most-read Getty stories from 2021!
While you may have been glued to Zoom meetings and wary of stepping back out into the world after months of pandemic isolation, you didn’t shy away from laughter. Bawdy humor, curiosity, and a passion to learn about art sent stories about ancient life, forgery, and feminism to the top of our list.
Below are the five most popular stories from 2021.
Why Are Greek Phalluses Funny?
For a few nights in November, the outdoor stage at the Getty Villa filled with actors, singers, and, well, phalluses. This bawdy retelling of Lysisrata delighted crowds and prompted us to look at the humor of the ancient Greeks. What made them laugh? Penises, of course! Phallus images show up in Greek plays, and were used as symbols of protection and feritlity.
Terracotta Statuette of an Actor, late 5th–early 4th century BC, Greek. Terracotta, 4 1/4 in. Getty Museum
Photo courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
In 2021, the Getty Museum acquired Lucretia, a painting that had been lost to private collections for years. Now on view at the Getty Center, the work by Artemisia Gentileschi shows the artist at the height of her expressive powers. “Lucretia is a powerful and compelling example of Artemisia’s most significant type of subject, the representation of dynamic female figures, which appear in control of their own destiny,” said Davide Gasparatto, Getty’s senior curator of paintings.
Lucretia, about 1627, Artemisia Gentileschi. Oil on canvas, 36 ½ x 28 5/8 in. Getty Museum, 2021.14
A day in the life of a medieval woman could include working alongside men in the fields, teaching their children how to read, or even influencing politics at court, all while enduring fashion trends and health and hygiene practices that we might find questionable today. You asked your questions and we answered.
Saint Catherine Presenting a Kneeling Woman to the Virgin and Child (detail), about 1400–1410, French. Tempera colors, gold leaf, gold paint, and ink on parchment, 7 7/16 × 5 3/16 in. Getty Museum, Ms. Ludwig IX 4 (83.ML.100), fol. 105
Antiquities curator Kenneth Lapatin spent much of the pandemic doing detective work on a 200-year-old cold case—a beautiful carved “ancient” amethyst in the Getty collection that turned out to be a modern forgery. We caught up with him about gem carving, and how his research helps to tell a fuller story about the history of gem carving and collecting.
Amethyst intaglio depicting Mark Antony, 1817–24, Giovanni Calandrelli. Amethyst and gold, 11/16 in. The J. Paul Getty Museum, 2001.28.1
In the 1970s, artist Anne Gauldin sewed 13 latex breasts—molded from women she knew—into a pink dress to make a 1950s diner uniform. The garment, affectionately known as the Breast Dress, became an important piece of feminist art history and is now undergoing conservation at the Getty Research Institute.
Ready to Order?, 1978, The Waitresses. Getty Research Institute, 2017.M.45. Gift of Jerri Allyn and Anne Gauldin, The Waitresses
Photo: Maria Karras
