Press Materials

Mesopotamia—the “land between the rivers” in modern-day Iraq—was home to the ancient Sumerians, Babylonians and Assyrians. Among their many achievements are the creation of the earliest known script (cuneiform), the formation of the first cities, the development of advanced astronomical and mathematical knowledge, and spectacular artistic and literary achievements. The exhibition covers three millennia from the first cities in about 3200 B.C. to Alexander the Great’s conquest of Babylon in 331 B.C. Curated by Timothy Potts and Ariane Thomas, Musee du Louvre, assisted by Jens Daehner and Sara Cole.  

Michelangelo (1475-1564) was one of the most creative and influential artists in the history of western art. This exhibition explores the full range of his work as a painter, sculptor, and architect through more than two dozen of his extraordinary drawings, including designs for celebrated projects such as the Sistine Chapel ceiling, the Medici Chapel tombs, and the Last Judgement. These working studies and sketches enable us to witness Michelangelo at work, and to experience firsthand his boundless creativity and his pioneering representation of the human form. Curated by Julian Brooks and Edina Adam.

Why did artists leave their homes behind? How did they use the medium of drawing to record their journeys? And how did mobility impact their draftsmanship? This exhibition, featuring works by Rubens, Canaletto, van Gogh, and Gauguin, explores such questions through a selection of European drawings from the Museum’s permanent collection, spanning from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries. Curated by Edina Adam.

Édouard Manet (1832-1883) earned his place as the leading avant-garde painter of modern Paris through a series of provocative paintings that shocked contemporary audiences. The first exhibition ever to explore the last years of his short life, Manet and Modern Beauty highlights a less familiar and more intimate side of this celebrated artist’s work. Stylish portraits, luscious still lifes, delicate pastels and watercolors, vivid café and garden scenes convey Manet’s elegant social world and reveal his growing fascination with fashion, flowers, and the parisienne—for the artist, a feminine embodiment of modern life in all its particular, fleeting beauty. Curated by Scott Allan and Emily Beeny.

Commemorating the 35th anniversary of the Museum’s collection of photographs, this exhibition reveals the breadth and depth of the Getty’s acquisitions through an array of its greatest hidden treasures, none of which have been exhibited at the Getty before. Spanning the history of the medium from its early years to the present day, UNSEEN highlights visual associations between photographs from different times and places to encourage fresh discoveries and underscore a sense of continuity and change within the history of the medium. Curated by James A. Ganz, with Mazie Harris, Virginia Heckert, Karen Hellman, Arpad Kovacs, Amanda Maddox, and Paul Martineau.

The Getty is renowned for its ambitious collecting. This inaugural exhibition of recent acquisitions by the Getty Museum highlights the most important works of art added to the collection in the past year. Selected by the Museum's director, it includes ancient gems and sculpture; Renaissance and 19th-century paintings; Renaissance sculpture; medieval manuscripts; old-master drawings; and 20th-century and contemporary photography. Curated by Timothy Potts. 

Édouard Manet (1832-1883) earned his place as the leading avant-garde painter of modern Paris through a series of provocative paintings that shocked contemporary audiences. The first exhibition ever to explore the last years of his short life, Manet and Modern Beauty highlights a less familiar and more intimate side of this celebrated artist’s work. Stylish portraits, luscious still lifes, delicate pastels and watercolors, vivid café and garden scenes convey Manet’s elegant social world and reveal his growing fascination with fashion, flowers, and the parisienne—for the artist, a feminine embodiment of modern life in all its particular, fleeting beauty. Curated by Scott Allan and Emily Beeny. 

Photographers often record change through images in series, registering transformations in the world around them. Artists featured in the exhibition photographed faces and places over minutes, months, or years. Historical and contemporary photographs prompt reflection on the ways the passage of time impacts how we see people and spaces. Curated by Mazie Harris.