It's called "Christ and the Adulteress" by Valentin de Boulogne (French, 1591-1632). It's the scene from the Bible, where an adulteress is brought to Jesus to confirm that she should be stoned. And Jesus writes on the ground and says, "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her." First, one of my favorite Biblical stories rebuking self-righteousness as righteousness. Second, I'm fascinated by the use of light in this painting. The informational placard says the artist was influenced by the dramatic light and realism of Caravaggio and I'm drawn in, not only to the dramatic lights on Jesus and the Adulteress but also the state of dress and body language of the Adulteress. Finally, I just love the composition overall of innocence and judgment, dark and light, and cruelty and hope.
The other piece which grabbed my attention was this 1950 sculpture "Angel of the Citadel" by Marino Marini (1901-1980). I love that this had a sign that said "Do Not Enter" because I could see all sorts of great photo ops ranging from oblivious parents putting their kid on the horsey to a clever hipster mimicking it saying "so EXCITED to be here!"
The exhibit that my friend and I were struck by the most was a temporary photography exhibit by Carrie Mae Weems entitled "From Here I Saw What Happened and I Cried" where she overlaid 19th century African-American portraits with a powerful and, at times, poignant, narrative. Wish there was a catalog or that they allowed pictures--I highly recommend it if you can make it up there before the exhibit leaves March 11, 2012.
But frankly the best part of the Getty Center is the Center itself. The architecture and gardens are amazing and then, there's the view of LA:
And it's pretty awesome when the sun goes down too:
2 comments:
interesting how they arrest the woman but not the man. when i went to the getty they had an exhibit of illuminated manuscript. it was so amazing. imagine owning a bible completely written and illustrated by hand like that.
that angel of citadel reminds me of this ridiculous youtube video ethan watches and laugh so hard over called cannon penis. a guy stands behind a cannon replica and they tell really bad jokes like "go go inspector... (camera then shows the guy at the cannon) caaaanon penis! all the punchlines are the guy at the cannon (penis.)
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