The J. Paul Getty Museum Handbook of the Collections

By J. Paul Getty Museum

Book Overview

This revised edition of the Handbook highlights the collections of the Getty Museum at the Getty Center, including the Museum's latest acquisitions. In recent years the paintings collection has grown substantially, and featured here are paintings new to the Getty by artists such as Claude Monet, Jean-Honor Fragonard, Nicholas Poussin, Jacques-Louis David, and Paul C zanne, as well as recently acquired works in every department of the Museum. Three hundred forty objects are reproduced-each with information about content and style-to help enhance appreciation and insight by non-specialist readers and museum-goers alike.
The book is organized by curatorial department-antiquities, decorative arts, drawings, illuminated manuscripts, paintings, photographs, and sculpture. An introduction by Deborah Gribbon, director of the museum, traces the fascinating history of the Getty through its move to the Getty Center.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0892366141
• ISBN13: 9780892366149
• Release Date: August 2001
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 1.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.3" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

How to keep up to date with an ever-expanding collection

This guide is a satisfactory companion to any visit to the Getty Center in L.A., with many colored illustrations of the major works in the museum's collection, grouped by department (decorative art, drawings, paintings, prints, etc..)with a short and informative text. Just a few illustrated works from the collection: Renoir's La Promenade, Degas's Waiting (a quintessential dancer painting) Van Gogh's Irises, Goya's The Marquesa de Santiago, Rembrandt's Old Man in Military Costume, some major pieces of French XVIIIth century furniture (by BVRB, Dubois, Oeben, Martin Carlin), drawings by Holbein, Rembrandt, Rubens, Watteau, and many sculptures and works of art (silverware, porcelain, clocks, etc). However, I have to add that the main shortcoming of this guide is the fact that it may become outdated very soon, as the Getty is famous for its consequent acquisition budget and keeps buying new works regularly. I, myself, already bought three editions of this guide in about ten years...