Books in the Getty Publications - series

Kinetic art not only includes movement but often depends on it to produce an intended effect and therefore fully realize its nature as art. It can take a multiplicity of forms and include a wide range of motion, from motorized and electrically driven movement to motion as the result of wind, light, or other sources of energy. Kinetic art emerged throughout the twentieth century and had its major developments in the 1950s and 1960s. Professionals responsible for conserving contemporary art are in the midst of rethinking the concept of authenticity and solving the dichotomy often felt between original materials and functionality of the work of art. The contrast is especially acute with kinetic art when a compromise between the two often seems impossible. Also to be considered are issues of technological obsolescence and the fact that an artist's chosen technology often carries with it strong sociological and historical information and meanings. The free online edition of this open-access book is available at www.getty.edu/publications/keepitmoving/ and includes zoomable figures and videos. Also available are free PDF, EPUB, and Kindle/MOBI downloads of the book.

Drawing from Getty Research Institute's Harald Szeemann Archive and Library, this heavily illustrated volume examines the groundbreaking career of the Swiss Curator Harald Szeemann (1933-2005), widely regarded as one of the most influential curators of the twentieth century.

This volume explores the conservation and presentation of dress in museums and beyond as a complex, collaborative process.

Based on the revised German edition of Max Schweidler's "Die Instandetzung von Kupferstichen, Zeichnungen, Buchern usw" - originally published in 1934 - this book includes a glossary, and an illustrated appendix. It complements Schweidler's text in aiding curators, conservators, and collectors on the conservation and restoration of works on paper.

In August 1576, in the midst of an outbreak of the plague, the Spanish Franciscan friar Bernardino de Sahagun and 22 indigenous artists locked themselves inside the school of Santa Cruz de Tlaltelolco in Mexico City with a mission: to create the first illustrated encyclopedia in the New World. This title deals with this manuscript.

What is a pyxis? Who was the Amasis Painter? How did Greek vases get their distinctive black and orange colours? This volume offers definitions and descriptions of these and many other Greek vase shapes, painters and techniques encountered in museum exhibitions and publications.

An illustrated look at the evolution of the photographic work of Ed Ruscha - the quintessential Los Angeles artist. It features 38 Ruscha plates and an essay that traces the evolution of the artist's thinking about his photographs initially as the means to end, and eventually as works of art in and of themselves.

Herb Ritts (1952-2002) was a Los Angeles-based photographer who established an international reputation for distinctive images of fashion models, nudes, and celebrity portraits. This book traces the life and career of the iconic photographer through a selection of photographs and two insightful essays.

A collection of critically important readings on the concepts and practices of textile conservation. It intends to promote critical thinking about the concepts and practices of textile conservation and to encourage engagement with issues.

Edgar Degas was one of the great pioneers of modern art, and the J. Paul Getty and Norton Simon museums are fortunate to own jointly one of his finest pastels, Waiting (L'Attente), which he made sometime between 1880 and 1882, about midway in his career. In this fascinating monograph, author Richard Thomson explores this brilliant work in detail, revealing both the intricacies of its composition and the source of the emotional pull it immediately exerts upon the viewer. For Waiting is, indeed, an extraordinary object both in its craftsmanship and color and, perhaps most especially, in its aura of ambiguity and even mystery.

Offers a personal account of the author's consuming passion for art collection. This title also offers a portrait of an idiosyncratic and personal passion for art - and how his first serious forays into art collecting in the 1930s would turn into a love that ends with the foundation of one of the world's finest museums.

Takes readers on a romp through the portrayal of love and sexuality in Western art - ranging from chaste tenderness to overwhelming frenzies of the senses, and from Classical allusion to sexual fantasy.

Presents analysis of occult iconography in many of the masterpieces of Western art - from the astrological symbols that decorated churches and illuminated manuscripts, through the work of a range of Renaissance artists, including Bosch, Brueghel, Durer and Caravaggio, to the visionary works of nineteenth-century artists, such as Fuseli and Blake.

Originally coined by the Dutch artist Theo van Doesburg in 1930, the term concrete denotes abstract painting with no reference to external reality. Presenting new scholarship, this publication is the first comprehensive study of the Concrete art movement in Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay from the 1940s to the 1960s.

Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) never crossed the Atlantic himself, but his impact in colonial Latin America was profound. This volume excavates his unequaled reception in the New World in the form of prints made after his works, arguing that colonial artists forged new frameworks for artistic creativity by conforming to European printed designs

A richly illustrated, comprehensive introduction to the visionary artist William Blake.

Featuring rare photographs and negatives alongside iconic images from the formative years of photography in the United States, "Paper Promises: Early American Photography" is the companion volume to the first exhibition exclusively focused on the display and study of early American photography on paper.

The Getty Villa in Malibu includes the only museum in the United States devoted solely to classical antiquities. This guide describes the history of the site and J Paul Getty's decision to house his growing collections in a structure based on an ancient Roman villa. It concludes with a description of the installation of the collections.

Style, Semper believed, should be governed by historical function, cultural affinities, creative free will, and the innate properties of each medium. He tried to turn 19th century artistic discussion away from historicism, aestheticism and materialism.

A reference on all known aspects of Greek, Etruscan, and Roman cults and rituals encompassing the period from 1000 BC to AD 400. It features illustrated articles that address topics such as processions, sacrifices, libation, purification, consecration/foundation rites, heroization and apotheosis, dance, music, divination, prayer, and magic.

Highlights images of architecture from Greek temples to Gothic cathedrals to modern-day skyscrapers. This title spans the history of the medium and includes works in a variety of photographic processes by such distinguished practitioners as Gustave Le Gray, Roger Fenton, Eugene Atget, Walker Evans, Ed Ruscha, Lewis Baltz and Michael Wesely.

An exploration of Greek theatre as seen through its many depictions in classical art. It addresses the vibrant imprint that ancient Greek tragedy and comedy left on the visual arts of classical Greece.

The internationally renowned documentary photographer Mary Ellen Mark took on the extraordinary challenge of working with the Polaroid 20X24 Land camera. This title looks at a modern rite of passage by the acclaimed documentary photographer Mary Ellen Mark.

Brings together a collection of works relating to the biodeterioration and conservation of art, architecture, and archaeological sites around the world. This book includes such topics as mechanism of biodeterioration, and correlation between biodeterioration and environment. It discusses solutions for the prevention and control of deterioration.

Published in 1765, Giovanni Battista Piranesi's "Osservazioni" is an impassioned defence of the superiority of Roman architectural "invention" over the "beautiful and noble simplicity" of Ancient Greece. This is an English translation of Piranesi's three-part polemical work.

It is Paris in the 1400s. A young girl named Marguerite delights in assisting her father, Jacques, in his craft: illuminating manuscripts for the nobility of France. His current commission is a splendid book of hours for his patron, Lady Isabelle, but will he be able to finish it in time for Lady Isabelle's name day?

The Mogao Grottoes, a World Heritage Site in northwestern China, are located along the ancient caravan routes, collectively known as the Silk Road, that once linked China with the West. This book gives an account of a ground-breaking conservation project to conserve the cave paintings of the Mogao Grottoes in China.

Offers a visual history of the depiction of illness and healing in Western culture, ranging from Egyptian wall carvings to 20th century artists.