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Medieval times: bestiaries on view
Animals lessons, animal lore “Book of Beasts: The Bestiary in the Medieval World” at the Getty by Bondo Wyszpolski To get us on the right track, and to convince the reader that this truly is a fine exhibition, we’ll need to start by defining what it is. According to Elizabeth Morrison, senior curator of manuscripts […]
Pontormo’s “Visitation” visits the Getty
Heaven scent “Miraculous Encounters: Pontormo from Drawing to Painting” by Bondo Wyszpolski Sure, a mighty retrospective spilling into adjacent galleries can be quite a treat, but at times a few choice works are all that’s needed for an important exhibition; and that’s what we have now with Jacopo da Pontormo (1494-1557) and a small but […]
Sally Mann: a photographer’s dark vitality
Through light to darkness, and back again “Sally Mann: a thousand crossings,” at the Getty (a review) by Bondo Wyszpolski Despite the usual anticipation, my reactions were lukewarm after viewing “Sally Mann: a thousand crossings,” at the J. Paul Getty Museum through Feb. 10. That was, however, before becoming immersed in the smart and readable […]
A century of fashion photos at the Getty
Venus in Blue Jeans, a Ball Gown, and a Fancy Hat “Icons of Style: A Century of Fashion Photography, 1911-2011” at the Getty by Bondo Wyszpolski The late photographer Irving Penn described his role at Vogue as “selling dreams, not clothes,” because being stylishly attired often gave one the illusion that doors to one’s personal […]
Down the Nile, into the Mediterranean
“Beyond the Nile: Egypt and the Classical World” at the Getty Twenty-five centuries along the Mediterranean by Bondo Wyszpolski Because of its scope and depth, it’s best to have an initial understanding of what “Beyond the Nile: Egypt and the Classical World” has set out to achieve. “The overarching goal of this exhibition,” notes Jeffrey […]
Mughal art through Rembrandt’s eyes
The Flying Dutchman: Over the Moon with Mughal Art “Rembrandt and the Inspiration of India” at the Getty – a review by Bondo Wyszpolski We’ve approached Rembrandt (1606-1669) from many angles, but probably not from that of the Muslim dynasty known as Mughal, which ruled large areas of India from 1526 to 1858. The latter’s […]
Time of the Seasons: Giovanni Bellini; Sacred Landscapes
Why, yes, he was a Renaissance man At the Getty Museum – “Giovanni Bellini: Landscapes of Faith in Renaissance Venice” by Bondo Wyszpolski From what I understand, this is the first monographic or solo exhibition devoted to Bellini in this country, which often is a polite way of saying that an artist may be good […]
Photographer Thomas Annan at the Getty
A Guide to Certain Places that You’ll Never Find Thomas Annan: Photographer of Glasgow (through Sunday at the Getty) by Bondo Wyszpolski A few more days remain to catch or revisit this exhibition of work by Thomas Annan (1829-1887), whom the Getty’s Timothy Potts describes as “the preeminent photographer of Glasgow in the mid-nineteenth century.” […]
Real News, Fake News, in the 18th Century
Pomp and Pageantry “Eyewitness Views: Making History in Eighteenth-Century Europe” at the Getty by Bondo Wyszpolski If we didn’t have cell phones, camcorders or cameras, how would we document and later commemorate historic events like the assaults on Pearl Harbor or the twin towers in New York, let alone the allegedly unsurpassed attendance at this […]
At the Getty: Edme Bouchardon, masterful French sculptor
Bouchardon: Royal Artist of the Enlightenment by Bondo Wyszpolski Clearly not a household name, in this country at least, the French draftsman and marble sculptor Edme Bouchardon (1698-1762) was a transitional figure between Rococo and Neoclassicism, part of “the generation of 1700” as Pierre Rosenberg coined it in 1973. In the catalogue that accompanies the […]
Yes, London’s calling, and you should answer – at the Getty
Hanging with the Boys “London Calling: Bacon, Freud, Kossoff, Andrews, Auerbach, Kitaj” at the Getty by Bondo Wyszpolski Referring to works in London’s National Gallery, in 1987 Lucian Freud wrote that “One quality these paintings share is that they all make me want to go back to work.” That’s the ultimate compliment, isn’t it? And […]
Théodore Rousseau and “Unruly Nature”
Alight in the Forest “Unruly Nature: The Landscapes of Théodore Rousseau” at the Getty by Bondo Wyszpolski We know him as one of the key figures of the Barbizon School, and as an artist who was pushing up at the floorboards of Impressionism, but how does Théodore Rousseau (1812-1867) fare in his own right? Of […]
Power and Pathos: Bronze Sculpture of the Hellenistic World
Ancient Art, Lost and Found Power and Pathos: Bronze Sculpture of the Hellenistic World by Bondo Wyszpolski If you step up to an old bronze statue and give it a sharp rap with your knuckles it feels pretty solid, right? Even if it’s as hollow as a chocolate Easter bunny you’ll think, This baby’s gonna […]
Andrea del Sarto, Master Renaissance Draftsman
One cannot write in depth about an artist without placing him or her within the context of the era in which they lived and cavorted, and to write about Andrea del Sarto (1486-1530) is to instantly shuffle him into the shadow of Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and perhaps others such as Titian and Correggio. […]
Animal Farm at the Getty: Stay, Sit, Pose!
Animals in Photographs, by Arpad Kovacs (Getty Publications, 111 pp., $24.95) As an artistic medium, photography got cooking in the 1830s, but it wasn’t until 1870 that someone snapped a decent shot of a live animal in nature. Prior to that, because long exposures were required, an animal needed to be dead or comatose before […]