A Day Behind-the-Scenes at The Getty Center: Los Angeles, "A Cultural Desert" is Blooming

To register for this event, you must register with the Getty. Click here. Enter ???TOWNHALLLA in the presale code prompt.

Agenda

8:30AM Coffee and Registration

Museum Lecture Hall Lobby

Arrive early to sign up for your choice of two behind-the-scenes tours of the Getty. These tours offer you a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see what???s not on public view, and the inner workings of the Getty. You may select two of seven tours. Space is limited and tours are available on a first-come, first-serve basis.

9:15 AM Welcoming Remarks

Museum Lecture Hall

Deborah Marrow, Director of the Getty Foundation, and Jon Goodman, President of TOWN HALL Los Angeles

Preparing the Canvas

9:30 AM ???Paintings in the Greater Museum of Los Angeles???

Museum Lecture Hall

Scott Schaefer, Senior Curator of Paintings at the J. Paul Getty Museum, guides participants through a visual presentation of the great paintings that reside in Los Angeles and how they each contribute to the overall picture of the City???s art and culture. Listen to one of the region???s most highly respected curators discuss Los Angeles as a collective museum.

Behind-the-Scenes

10:30 AM First Tour (Group A)

11:30 AM Second Tour (Group B)

Participants choose two tours they would like to take. All tours are offered at both times, except ???In The Director???s Office which will take place ONLY at 10:30 AM. Tours are first-come, first-serve, with a limited number of participants per group. Details below.

12:30 PM Lunch

Museum Lecture Hall, Garden Seating

Pick up your boxed lunch, enjoy the view and explore the gardens in preparation for the last presentation of the day.

1:30 PM The Art of the Garden

Museum Lecture Hall

With an introduction from David Bomford, Associate Director of Collections, J. Paul Getty Museum, this presentation will address the outdoor collections of Los Angeles including gardens as art and the sculpture gardens that beautify LA???s landscape. Hear Jim Folsom, Director of Botanical Gardens at the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Gardens, discuss the art of the garden with Antonia Bostr??m, Senior Curator of Decorative Arts and Sculpture at the J. Paul Getty Museum. Bostr??m worked with a team of conservators and designers to install the Fran and Ray Stark collection of outdoor sculptures at the Getty. These two esteemed curators will share how they conceptualize, curate and design world-class outdoor art experiences for their respective institutions.

2:45 PM Adjourn

Spend the rest of your afternoon exploring the Museum???s galleries and strolling the Center???s gardens.

To register for this event, you must register with the Getty. Click here. Enter ???TOWNHALLLA in the presale code prompt.

Behind-the-Scenes Tour Descriptions

When you arrive the morning of the 31^st, you will sign up for two of the seven tours listed below. The selection is first-come, first-serve so be sure to arrive early so you can go on your top two choices. The real challenge will be selecting only two!

Center for Photographs and Guided Viewing of Current Exhibitions

Judith Keller, Acting Senior Curator of Photographs at the J. Paul Getty Museum, walks you through an exhibition celebrating 10 years of collecting photographs at the Getty Center, and two exhibitions featuring work by German photographers. The Getty???s renowned collection includes photographs from the mid-19^th century through today and is considered one of the most significant in the world. Come see rare and historic photographs and learn about the building of this magnificent collection.

Tour available at 10:30 and 11:30 AM, Open to 20 per group

Getty Conservation Institute Labs

Karen Trentelman, Senior Scientist at the GCI???s Museum Research Laboratory, is a chemist by training. Join her as she explains why her lab is a cross between ???CSI and ???Antiques Roadshow. Go inside the Getty???s labs to learn about attribution, authentication and dating. See how specific colors are linked to a particular artist. Learn how radiography can identify a painting???s creator. And discover why some colors cannot be duplicated or preserved. Don???t miss this unique opportunity to see where art meets science.

Tour available at 10:30 and 11:30 AM, Open to 15 per group

Getty Research Institute Special Collections

Ever explore the swap meet for some unusual item to display? Are you a collector of curios, sketchbooks and other mementos? The GRI Special Collections is a must for those with a love of history, architecture and humanities. Join Wim de Wit, Head of the Architecture Department at the GRI, as he shows you sketchbooks by notable architects, photo albums of museum installations, prints, notebooks and other glimpses into the minds of artists. He will present a dozen objects including his favorite item ??" a little album of drawings made and collected by an 18th century Tuscan monk, Padre Filippo Baldi. A decorator of religious buildings, Baldi used this album as his portfolio to show potential clients what he could do and because of the way Baldi put the drawings in this notebook, it is a true palimpsest of layer upon layer of information.

Tour available and 10:30 and 11:30 AM, Open to 20 per group

In the Director???s Office: A Private Conversation with Three Museum Directors (10:30 AM Tour ONLY)

Talk with three museum directors about their respective collections, how they procure art and the choices made for exhibition. This conversation will take place only once on the first tour. Directors include Michael Brand ??" Director of the J. Paul Getty Museum, Charmaine Jefferson ??" Executive Director of the California African American Museum, and Jeremy Strick ??" Director of Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art. These leaders will discuss the overall ???LA Collection, and talk about the different and common goals of these three distinct and uniquely LA museums. Space is extremely limited for this exclusive conversation with those who contribute to the cultural landscape of our city.

Tour available ONLY at 10:30 AM, Limit 15

Manuscripts and Drawings Study Room

Go deep inside the Getty???s art storage and see up-close treasurers not on view to the general public when Julian Brooks, Associate Curator, Department of Drawings for the J. Paul Getty Museum, shows his favorite pieces in the collection including a double-sided Leonardo Da Vinci drawing. Brooks notes that drawings convey the strength and grace in the human form and the power and beauty in the human face. Don???t pass up this opportunity to look at drawings through the eyes and with the insight of a curator.

Tour available at 10:30 AM and 11:30 AM, Open to 20 per group

Paintings Conservation Studio

Mark Leonard, Conservator of Paintings and Head of the Department of Paintings Conservation at the J. Paul Getty Museum, takes you to his studio. Internationally known and widely respected, the Getty???s Paintings Conservation Studio receives paintings from museum collections around the world for a variety of conservation needs. You will see paintings currently being conserved in the studio while he describes the intricate processes involved in saving them. The studio is not open to the public, but is open to YOU on May 31!

Tour available at 10:30 AM and 11:30 AM, Open to 20 per group

White Glove Tour of ???Hidden Compartments in French Decorative Arts

???Don???t touch! is a phrase many of us have heard while perusing the extensive collection of French furniture and decorative arts on display at the Getty. Charissa Bremer-David, Curator of Sculpture and Decorative Arts at the J. Paul Getty Museum, will open and show you hidden compartments in these remarkable pieces of furniture. Bremer-David will take out her renowned ring of keys unlocking works from the royal collections of France???s kings Louis XIV and Louis XVI. You???ll revel in the secure, secret compartments and magnificently adorned pieces of the French royal family and court.

Tour available at 10:30 AM and 11:30 AM, Open to 20 per group

To register for this event, you must register with the Getty. Click here. Enter ???TOWNHALLLA in the presale code prompt.