Alchemists revealing secrets from the
Book of Seven Seals, detail from the Ripley Scroll, ca. 1700. The Getty Research Institute,
950053
OPENING THIS MONTH
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Alchemists revealing secrets from the Book of Seven Seals, detail from the Ripley Scroll, ca. 1700. The Getty Research Institute, 950053
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The Art of Alchemy
Opens October 11, 2016 | The Getty Center
In medieval Europe alchemy was known as The Great Art as it blurred the lines between art, spirituality, natural philosophy, and science. Long shrouded in secrecy, alchemical practice and study involved chemical experimentation and artisanal craftwork and—despite its mysterious nature—has influenced artistic practices for centuries. Drawing from the collections of the GRI and the J. Paul Getty Museum,
The Art of Alchemy explores the impact of this arcane subject on art and expression from antiquity to Enlightenment and beyond.
Gallery tours are offered on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 2:00 p.m.
Find out more about the exhibition.
EVENT
If Venice Dies
Lecture and Book Signing
November 5, 2016 | 2:00 p.m. | The Getty Center
Join art historian and former GRI Director Salvatore Settis as he discusses his book
If Venice Dies and the effects of "hit and run" tourism on historic urban areas. With Venice at the center of his discussion, Settis argues that the city's imperiled existence is indicative of the future of historic cities everywhere, and that Western civilization's prime achievements face ruin from mass tourism and global cultural homogenization.
Reserve a free ticket.
ANNOUNCEMENT
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Readers in the Special Collections Reading Room, 2015
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Getty Library Research Grant Applications Due October 17
Applications are now available for the 2017 Getty Library Research Grants, which provide short-term support for researchers interested in using GRI collections materials but live more than 80 miles from the Getty Center. This year, at least one grant will be awarded for a digital art history project relevant to collecting or the art market that demonstrates an innovative use of the library's special collections. Scholars who receive the grant will be offered support of up to $3,000 for travel and living expenses for a maximum of three months while accessing the collections.
Applications are due on Monday, October 17, 2016. Contact
Library Reference with any questions.
Learn more and download the application.
NEW ACQUISITION
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Dance of the Ladder, Harmony Hammond, 1981. The Getty Research Institute, 2016.M.3. © Harmony Hammond
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Harmony Hammond Archive
The papers and correspondence of American artist Harmony Hammond document the development of feminist, lesbian, and queer art and visual culture from the 1970s through the 2000s. Hammond, who in addition to being an abstract painter is also a scholar and curator, helped found A.I.R (Artists in Residence)—the first artist-run, nonprofit gallery for women artists in New York—and authored the pioneering history
Lesbian Art in America (2000). Materials in the archive include correspondence, manuscripts, photographs, rare ephemera, original artwork, and the documentation of lesbian art history meticulously assembled by Hammond over several decades.
Find out more about the archive.
PUBLICATION
The Book on the Floor: André Malraux and the Imaginary Museum
Walter Grasskamp
Art historian Walter Grasskamp explores the genre of the illustrated art book in
The Book on the Floor, beginning with French writer, politician, and publisher André Malraux, who coined the term
musée imaginaire. Malraux championed this "imaginary museum," where, thanks to photography, readers could compare works of art without ever stepping foot in a brick-and-mortar museum. However, Malraux's work was not singular. Oft-forgotten photographer André Vigneau's five-volume
Encyclopédie photographique de l'art pioneered the "museum without walls" in 1935, 19 years before Malraux.
Pre-order this title.
NEW FOR RESEARCHERS
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Illustration of a view of a spatial city from L'Architecture Mobile, Yona Friedman, 1962. The Getty Research Institute, 2008.M.51
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Yona Friedman Papers
Finding Aid
Visionary architect and planner Yona Friedman was a key participant in many of the defining theoretical architectural discussions of the second half of the 20th century, from megastructures and prefabrication, to modular and participatory design. Friedman's papers contain manuscripts, drawings, photographs, and slides documenting his broad intellectual activity, and include materials related to the development of Friedman's concepts of mobile architecture and the spatial city.
Browse the finding aid.
VIDEO
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Professor Victor H. Mair at the Getty Center, 2016.
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Dunhuang as Nexus of the Silk Road during the Middle Ages
Video of May 19, 2016, Lecture
Situated at the western edge of the Gansu Corridor, Dunhuang was a vital center of Buddhism, art, and the trade of goods and ideas during the Tang dynasty (618–907 CE). University of Pennsylvania Professor of Chinese Language and Literature Victor H. Mair discusses the importance of Dunhuang's location in linking diverse cultures across Eurasia via the Silk Road.
Watch the video.
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