The Getty Center Delivers…

I was lucky enough to have lunch today with Virginia Heckert, a fantastic curator of photography at the Getty Center. After lunch, Virginia led us over to the photography galleries, which currently house two fabulous exhibitions: Bernd and Hilla Becher: Basic Forms and August Sander: People of the Twentieth Century. Both were phenomenal – the work of the Bechers has always been particularly interesting to me.

The other exhibtion that really made my day was a video installation by Nicole Cohen called Please Be Seated. Per the Getty website, the exhibition “allows you to interact with the Getty Museum’s 18th-century French chairs. The installation blends footage from decorative arts galleries in the Getty Museum and three French museums with live video captured by a surveillance camera. As you sit in reproductions of the original chairs, you become part of the installation, virtually entering historic recreations of 18th-century French spaces.” Basically, you sit in a big white chair, look up at a screen, and suddenly you are Marie Antoinette in Versailles. I loved it.

The Bernini show was arrestingly beautiful too, but you can read all about that Baroque goodness HERE, in the glowing New York Times review.

Walking around the Getty on a beautiful summer day gave me the illusion of being on vacation. I relished the fantasy.