last april, i learned about a fascinating new layer at the getty research institute. the discovery started at a dwell magazine event discussing art and architecture, where i met christopher j. alexander, the associate collections curator for the getty research institute. christoppher fills a new position as the research institute to help develop its architectural collections and share them with the public. christopher is responsible for several exhibitions of julius shulman's work and recently at the getty, 'lessons of bernard rudofsky'.
yesterday, i was excited to park at the upper lot at the getty at no charge! i was meeting with christopher and eleanor schapa, an amazing art history teacher from santa monica college and ucla extension, whose art history comment was quoted in the new york times! i was thrilled just to be at the getty and escape LA for a bit. it ended up being more of a treat than i anticipated as christopher gave us a surprise mini tour behind the scenes of the institute. we strolled through parts of their incredible library with a general collection of 900,000 volumes of books, periodicals, and auction catalogs. there is also the special collections room and a photo study collection with about 2 million photographs! we peeked at the incredibly organized and well-maintained julius shulman collection (including 260,000 prints!). the best part of this institute is that it's not just for scholars, but access is available to anyone with a government-issued photo ID! however, if you are a member of the scholarly and museum communities or a particular researcher, then you get more access privelages. and to top it off, the parking is free by reservation!
thanks christopher for the wonderful introduction to the Getty Research Institute and their fascinating architectural collections.
note: the photos are mine from my getty visit years ago when family from new england visited, as the getty is always on the agenda for out-of-town guests.
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