Getty continues its online-accessible series of exhibits and art exploration. Explore the range of online events, podcasts, and articles.
The story of the Walt Disney Concert Hall
From the moment the Walt Disney Concert Hall emerged in downtown LA—a breathtaking assemblage of undulating, shining curves—it became an internationally recognized architectural landmark. But just how did Frank Gehry and his team design this monument to music? A new digital exhibition, Sculpting Harmony, tells this fascinating story through interviews with Gehry, materials from his archive at Getty, and much more.
How to become a saint
Medieval Christians often consulted books of hours—prayer books filled with hourly prayers to recite and images of saints experiencing shocking, unimaginable deaths. Those images were meant to bring comfort, not fear. But you may well be wondering: what was so soothing about looking at someone being shot with arrows while tied to a tree? Or worse?
October's first "Macabre Moment"
El Club Continental
Cultural historian Josh Kun dips into the history of Sunset Blvd.’s El Club Continental, a stop for local Mexicans and Central Americans who found after-work refuge in classic cumbias and salsa montunos. Among the nightclub’s acclaimed house bands: the “Latin-American Orchestra” of Esy Morales, a Puerto Rican flautist/horn player and veteran of Xavier Cugat’s band. Hear Morales’s “Jungle Fantasy” and get a sense of the club’s ambience from the ’40s to the ’70s.
The unwhitewashing of América Tropical
Summer Ibarra’s project as a Getty Marrow intern introduced her to a censored mural she now works to preserve—David Alfaro Siqueiros’s 80-foot América Tropical, which overlooks the historic enclave of Olvera Street in downtown LA. The mural, its content shocking to some, was painted over shortly after its completion in 1932; and had it not been for the work of activists and scholars, as well as Getty and the City of LA's conservation efforts, Ibarra might never have heard of it, let alone seen it.
What is a Venus Genetrix?
How do you identify a statue with so many missing bits? Sometimes by its clothing. In this episode of Becoming Artsy, Jessie looks at the distinctive tunic of Venus Genetrix, explains why the goddess of love is sometimes a “Genetrix,” and shows us how the ancient tunic has inspired today’s designers and celebrities.