Los Angeles Philharmonic conductor Gustavo Dudamel introduced Gehry, who was honored for transforming the built landscape with buildings such as Los Angeles’ Walt Disney Concert Hall and the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris.
“There have been very few individuals who have changed the course of architecture, and Frank Gehry is one of them. His use of new technologies and unconventional materials effectively reinvented architecture as we know it,” said J. Paul Getty Trust President and CEO James Cuno in presenting the medal.
“Given the Getty’s sustained commitment to the study, conservation, and exhibition of architecture—from the buildings of Ancient Greece and Rome to the earthen architecture of South America and western Africa, to King Tut’s tomb in Luxor and the Mehrangarh Fort in Nagaur, India, as well as from Louis Kahn’s Salk Institute to Jørn Utzon’s Sydney Opera House—it is fitting that we honor Frank’s many achievements with our highest honor, the 2015 J. Paul Getty Medal,” he continued.
Said J. Paul Getty Trust Board President Maria Hummer-Tuttle, “Frank has harnessed technology with the hands of an artist and the mind of a humanist.”
In accepting the award, Mr. Gehry said “It is a great honor to receive this award from an institution that believes at its core that art and humanities can have a civilizing effect on society. The Getty has proven its dedication to this mission time and time again through its generous grant programs, its broad education and public outreach and, of course, its dedication to providing free community access to its incredible collections. I am very happy to be a part of this vitally important mission.”
More than 350 guests from the worlds of art, architecture, government, and business attended a dinner to honor Mr. Gehry in a pavilion on the plaza of the landmark Getty Center. Attendees included Mayor Eric Garcetti, Gustavo Dudamel, Angelica Huston, Esa-Pekka Salonen, and artists Chuck Arnoldi, Larry Bell, Billy Al Bengston, Tacita Dean, Thomas Demand, Joe Goode, Barbara Kruger, Ed Moses, Lari Pittman, Charles Ray, Ed Ruscha, Bill Viola, and many others. Other notables included Deborah Borda, Michael Eisner, Aileen Getty, Balthazar Getty, Rosetta Getty, Michael Govan, Agnes Gund, Michael Milken, A.J. Perenchio, and Ann Philbin.
The J. Paul Getty Medal was established in 2013 by the trustees of the J. Paul Getty Trust to recognize living individuals from all over the world for their leadership in the fields in which the Getty works. The first recipients were Harold M. Williams and Nancy Englander, who were honored for their leadership in creating the Getty as it exists today, and the second was Lord Jacob Rothschild, honored as the most influential volunteer cultural leader in the English-speaking world.
The J. Paul Getty Medal Dinner was presented by Louis Vuitton, with generous support also provided by Gagosian Gallery, Moët Hennessy USA, JUSTIN Wines, Landmark Wines and FIJI Water, as well as the Board of Trustees of the J. Paul Getty Trust.
A selection of photos is available for viewing.
About Frank Gehry
For more than five decades, Frank Gehry has built an architectural career that has produced iconic buildings in North America, Europe, and Asia, and earned him the most significant awards in the field, including the Pritzker Architecture Prize, perhaps architecture’s premier accolade. Other honors include the National Medal of Arts, Ordre National de Legion d’honneur Commandeur from the French government, Golden Lion Lifetime Achievement Award at the Venice Biennale, and others too numerous to mention.
Among his most notable buildings are the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain; the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, California; the Jay Pritzker Pavilion and BP Bridge in Chicago, Illinois; Eight Spruce Street Residential Tower in New York City; and Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris, France. In all, his buildings have received more than 100 national and regional AIA awards. In 2010, Vanity Fair conducted a survey of architects to determine the most important building of the last 30 years: Gehry’s Bilbao museum was the overwhelming winner.
Raised in Toronto, Canada, Frank Gehry moved with his family to Los Angeles in 1947. He received his Bachelor of Architecture degree from USC in 1954, and studied city planning at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. He founded Gehry Partners, LLP, in Los Angeles in 1962, a full-service architectural firm that developed extensive international experience in the design and construction of academic, museum, theater, performance, and commercial projects.
Hallmarks of Mr. Gehry’s work include a concern that people dwell comfortably within the spaces that he creates, and an insistence that his buildings address the context and culture of their sites.
Despite his international stature and renown, he continues to be closely associated with Los Angeles, where his 1978 redesign of his Santa Monica home launched his international career. He is currently working with the Mayor’s office on a master plan for the redevelopment of the L.A. River.
In addition to the Getty Medal Award, Mr. Gehry is also the subject of a major retrospective this fall at LACMA, and is the subject of Building Art: The Life and Work of Frank Gehry, a recently released biography by architecture critic Paul Goldberger.
Louis Vuitton and Art
A symbol of elegance and style throughout the world, Louis Vuitton has cultivated a close relationship with the world of art since its founding in 1854. Inventing the art of travel, Louis Vuitton and his successors kept pace with a rapidly changing age, working with the most accomplished engineers, decorators, painters, photographers, and designers of the day. This fascination with ever-new forms of expression grew through the subsequent decades and continues today. Some of the world’s most renowned contemporary artists have joined forces with Louis Vuitton, increasing the points of exchange between art and fashion to an unprecedented degree.
Created on the initiative of Bernard Arnault and designed by Frank Gehry, Fondation Louis Vuitton opens an exciting new cultural chapter for Paris. Its mission is to encourage and promote contemporary artistic creations both in France and internationally. Frank Gehry proved to be a true visionary while embracing the values of excellence and unyielding professionalism that have always defined Louis Vuitton.