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LOS ANGELES, From CI
the galleries on our own. It
ES then that the real trouble
began.
Letter From Los Angeles
First, the museum's en-
trance pavilion is utterly mute
on the subject of where a
visitor should go next, unless
The View From
you're willing to climb one of
forbidding stairways that
appear to go nowhere. There
are free handouts with ground
The Top: Dreary
plans, but no other clue-not
even signage-that would
help.you track down, for in-
stance, the ancient marbles,
Smaller Collections Outshine the Getty
medieval manuscripts, Renais-
sance paintings or 20th-centu-
ry photographs.
By Jo ANN LEWIS
Pressed for viewing time,
relation to, say, the tram station
wefanned out to take random
Special to The Washington Post
(where you landed from the
parking garage below), or the
QU
samplings of the collections,
LOS ANGELES
meeting center; the eating
ct
passing word about our find-
mgsto others along the way.
M
aybe it was the rain. Or
center; the information,
bad vibrations from El
education and conservation
Given the downpour, I sys-
1
Nino. But I went to see
tematically headed for the
centers and-ah, yes-the J.
the new Getty Center here last
Paul Getty Art Museum, which
building, never know-
month and it left me cold.
I most wanted to see.
ing till I got there and read the
Not to mention wet.
stem on the door what I'd see
It's not that the Getty's
It isn't supposed to rain on
welcoming staff didn't tend to
inside.
this billion-dollar culture
our every need. Huge rubber
Eventually, I began to get
trash bins filled with umbrellas
12
the drift: Each of these build-
bunker, this megalomaniacal
monolith of off-white metal
were frantically wheeled from
1
ings, or clusters of buildings
squares; glass squares,
door to door to keep us from
;
(some attached by walkways,
travertine squares and the
getting drenched as we dashed
others not) displayed every-
occasional curved grid visible
from one building to the next.
thing but paintings on the
31
for miles around from its site on
But finally, after slogging our
ground floor-ancient sculp-
a Santa Monica hillside.
way to the museum's entrance
ture, old glass, master draw-
But it did rain, and the
building, it was soon clear that
I
ings, etc. And the paintings
downpour left many of the 200
the rain wasn't the Getty's only
galleries were all upstairs, un-
female art professionals
problem.
der" skylights, where they
attending a national conference
The entrance to the J. Paul
could bask in the natural light.
here early this month with an
Getty Museum is a gargantuan,
Except that on this particular
it
impression markedly different
train station-like pavilion
day, there was very little light.
from that reported by much of
featuring information and
Nor was there enough supplementa-
the press following the center's
Acoustiguide rental booths,
ry light to keep many galleries from
sunny opening in December.
along with the first work of art
[
being shrouded in gloom.
Without sun, the Getty
we'd seen all day: an ancient
In fairness, it must be said that
Center is a cold, confusing, even
Roman nude marble Zeus who
certain aspects of the collection have
disorienting array of
seemed lost in the soggy
expanded admirably in recent years,
relentlessly stark, faceless,
throng. After a greeting by
notably the medieval manuscripts
undistinguishable modern
Getty Museum Director John
and photography collections, which
buildings. They look SO much
now have few American peers. But
Walsh, we were left to navigate
alike, in fact, that it takes hours
while the Getty has acquired impor-
to figure out where you are in
tant and expensive paintings, the
See LOS ANGELES, C9. Col. 1
quality and authority of the collection
is still badly diluted by the inclusion
of many second-rate works. The
dimly lighted gallery devoted to Rem-
brandt and his circle, for example,
doesn't come close to telling us why
we should love Rembrandt or what
made him great.
nere's also another serious and
Proof that big LA. money
pervasive problem here: insultingly
"Irises," the $54 million wonder, but
and good taste can creatively
simple-minded labels that serve only
now imprisoned under glass, badly
coexist came, of all places, at
to expose the Getty's muddled atti-
framed and poorly lit. "Give it a
the home of Hollywood super-
tudé toward its public. Eager to be
moment," I told myself.
agent Ovitz, who lives in a
seen as relevant rather than elitist or
But the thrill never came. And I
disconcertingly modest red-
overly art-historical, the Getty has
left, wondering whether "Irises" was
brick pillared house not far
apparently decided to solve the mat-
really just a second-rate painting after
from O.J. Simpson's former
ter by talking down. For instance:
all, or whether its handling at the
place in Brentwood. What
Does it really enhance our experience
Getty had somehow managed to
Ovitz has, and the Getty lacks, is
to read that drawings in the collec-
what appears to be a real passion for
tion are "works done on paper"? The
Getty, mind you, has its own Getty
art, which he transmits in the way he
Education Institute for the Arts,
treats it. His very lived-in living
drain the life out of it.
which presumably dispenses knowl-
room, for instance, is a wonderfully
Fed up, I went downstairs, bought
edge They'd do well to give their
harmonious combination of Chinese
a few postcards from the photogra-
Tabel writers a grant and send them
Ming furniture, Rembrandt etchings
phy collection, and headed for the
,to Washington, where they can learn
line waiting to take the tram back
and important 20th-century paint-
how it's done at the National Gallery
down to the real world below.
ings by Picasso and Dubuffet, all
and other national museums.
"Did you see the beautiful rainbow
That goes double for installation
over Bel Air?" someone asked.
and lighting departments. Unfortu-
Damned if I hadn't missed that, too.
nately, it's too late to improve the
blended together in a way that makes
"taste of the museum officials who
them resonate. Ovitz wakes up to the
approved the hideous 18th-century
bright green throb of a fan-shaped
French decorative arts installations.
abstraction by Ellsworth Kelly. And
By late afternoon, as our day at the
he comes home to a small, sweet
Getty drew to a close, the rain had
Fortunately, I saw several
sculpture by his cousin Joel Shapiro
'stopped. So I set out to walk around
other art sights in Los Angeles
at the front door.
;outside, where sunlight now sparkled
off overflowing fountains and pud-
that offered everything that
Admittedly, there is the whiff of a
dled travertine. Below one of the
was missing at the Getty, with
heavy-handed 1980s dealer lurking
bridgelike walkways, a low-lying
passion at the top of the list.
behind some of Ovitz's paintings,
cloud masked the freeway, giving the
There were: a great con-
especially the dated-looking works by
'place the feel of a floating Shangri-La.
temporary house by Mexican
Julian Schnabel and David Salle, now
architect Ricardo Legoretta,
abandoned to the gallery wing, which
What a great place to study, or write
a book on courtesy of one of their big,
the private art collections of
Ovitz added. There is also a jaw
fat grants, I thought. The same
Michael Ovitz and Peter Nor-
dropper in this collection-Jasper
thought crossed many a colleague's
ton, and-best of all-a won-
Johns's "White Flag," brought back
thind that day.
drous, little-known establish-
from Japan last year and now hang-
and began to ponder the scant dimen-
ment called the Museum of
ing in the den, alongside a Rauschen-
sions of the eccentric, nearly forgot-
Jurassic Technology.
berg combine and an early de Koon-
ten-oil man monumentalized by this
Stylistically, the domestic
ing. But throughout, even when you
great pile: a man so stingy that he
masterpiece Legoretta de-
smell a big investment, there is the
Wouldn't pay the ransom to get his
signed for Arthur and Audrey
sense of art truly loved, lived with
Greenberg in Brentwood is as
and understood.
grafidson back until kidnappers cut
on the boy's ear and delivered it in a
unlike Richard Meier's rigid
At the sprawling stone residence
Getty geometries as it could
of software mogul Peter Norton
Which reminded me that there
be (though, admittedly, so
(Norton Utilities, etc.) and his wife,
was-one more painting I wanted to
was his assignment). Built in
Eileen, art is clearly the entire fami-
see before I left: van Gogh's famous
the Mexican style, with high
ly's consuming passion, with video
"THises," painted in 1889, soon after
stucco walls facing the street,
dolls, room-size installations, and oth-
the artist cut off his own ear. It has
the house embraces you with-
er up-to-the-minute creations all over
become the Getty's signature picture.
in, imposing a sense of calm
the place. Devoted above all to good
"Where's the van Gogh?" I asked a
and refuge. There is complexi-
humor and family fun, the collection's
guard. "Down at the end of the
ty as well, as Legoretta sets
pièce de résistance, installed in the
courtyard, in the building with the
mists of color afloat by master-
basement, is an entire, full-scale kitch-
Hig square windows," she said. Now
fully beaming light onto a
en covered with shimmering colored
able to navigate through the court-
bright yellow wall, or onto
beads and a sink full of dirty dishes
yard; I soon found the building and
lapis shutters. There is no
created by an artist named Liza Lou.
climbed to the second floor, confident
color in the Getty's anhedonic,
But the most unforgettable experi-
that, at last, I'd find the aesthetic kick
sensually deprived world. I'd
ence I had in Los Angeles was at the
that had eluded me all day.
forgotten how good it can
Museum of Jurassic Technology, a
"And there it was: van Gogh's
make you feel.
little-known storefront enterprise in
the Culver City area that my daugh-
ter tipped me off to. A hand-to-mouth
operation founded by artist-filmmak-
er David Wilson, it survives on
admission fees, sales from its tiny
shop painted black (like the rest of its
labyrinth of galleries), and sporadic
SUNDAY, MARCH 8, 1998 G9
grants from the NEA and the Andy
Warhol Foundation. Yet it accom-
plishes everything the Getty fails to
do: It fills you with wonder, and it
makes you think.
It's not an easy place to describe.
But it recalls the Smithsonian's gem
hall: a darkened space with small
display cabinets showing objects of
wonder and scientific curiosity. Ex-
cept here, we are shown the Camer-
oonian stink ant, a horn from the
back of an Englishwoman's head, and
a cutaway scale model of Noah's Ark.
The presentation is so convincing,
with its labels and esoteric footnotes,
its little dioramas and audio spiels,
that it takes some time before you
sense that something is amiss. Is this
F stuff based on fact? Or is it the
invention of an installation artist? It
turns out to be a bit of both.
The most recent exhibition is
"Selected Collections From Los An-
geles Area Mobile Home and Trailer
Parks," a hilarious but bittersweet
takeoff on loan shows from private
collectors, now a staple in art muse-
ums. The room is centered with
sleek, vaguely coffin-shaped vitrines
filled with everything from expensive
china teacups to handmade lace un-
derwear. There is also a subsection
on trailer park disasters. You decide
whether the artist is kidding or not.
New Yorker writer Lawrence
Weschler wrote an entire book sort-
ing fact from fiction at the Jurassic,
titled "Mr. Wilson's Cabinet of Won-
der." He concludes: "It's like a muse-
um, a critique of museums, and a
celebration of museums-all rolled
into one."
Put another way, it's also a work of
art that uses the museum format to
question the authority of all museums
to dispense absolute truth, scientific
or aesthetic-including the Getty.
LOS ANGELES, From G1
the galleries on our own. It
VEN then that the real trouble
began.
Letter From Los Ángeles
First, the museum's en-
trance pavilion is utterly mute
on the subject of where a
visitor should go next, unless
The View From
you're willing to climb one of
forbidding stairways that
appear to go nowhere. There
are free handouts with ground
The Top: Dreary
plans, but no other clue-not
even signage-that would
help you track down, for in-
stance, the ancient marbles,
Smaller Collections Outshine the Getty
medieval manuscripts, Renais-
sance paintings or 20th-centu-
ry photographs.
By Jo ANN LEWIS
Pressed for viewing time,
relation to, say, the tram station
we.fanned out to take random
Special to The Washington Post
(where you landed from the
striplings of the collections,
parking garage below), or the
LOS ANGELES
passing word about our find-
meeting center; the eating
ingsto others along the way.
M
aybe it was the rain. Or
center; the information,
bad vibrations from El
education and conservation
Given the downpour, I sys-
Nino. But I went to see
tematically headed for the
centers and-ah, yes-the J.
the new Getty Center here last
Paul Getty Art Museum, which
building, never know-
month and it left me cold.
I most wanted to see.
mg till I got there and read the
Not to mention wet.
shen on the door what I'd see
It's not that the Getty's
It isn't supposed to rain on
inside.
welcoming staff didn't tend to
this billion-dollar culture
our every need. Huge rubber
Eventually, I began to get
the drift: Each of these build-
bunker, this megalomaniacal
trash bins filled with umbrellas
monolith of off-white metal
were frantically wheeled from
ings, or clusters of buildings
squares, glass squares,
door to door to keep us from
(some attached by walkways,
travertine squares and the
getting drenched as we dashed
others not) displayed every-
occasional curved grid visible
from one building to the next.
thing but paintings on the
for miles around from its site on
But finally, after slogging our
ground floor-ancient sculp-
a Santa Monica hillside.
way to the museum's entrance
ture, old glass, master draw-
But it did rain, and the
building, it was soon clear that
ings, etc. And the paintings
downpour left many of the 200
the rain wasn't the Getty's only
galleries were all upstairs, un-
female art professionals
problem.
det" skylights, where they
attending a national conference
The entrance to the J. Paul
could bask in the natural light.
here early this month with an
Getty Museum is a gargantuan,
Except that on this particular
impression markedly different
train station-like pavilion
day, there was very little light.
from that reported by much of
featuring information and
Nor was there enough supplementa-
the press following the center's
Acoustiguide rental booths,
ry light to keep many galleries from
sunny opening in December.
along with the first work of art
being shrouded in gloom.
Without sun, the Getty
In fairness, it must be said that
we'd seen all day: an ancient
Center is a cold, confusing, even
Roman nude marble Zeus who
certain aspects of the collection have
disorienting array of
seemed lost in the soggy
expanded admirably in recent years,
relentlessly stark, faceless,
throng. After a greeting by
notably the medieval manuscripts
undistinguishable modern
and photography collections, which
Getty Museum Director John
buildings. They look SO much
now have few American peers. But
Walsh, we were left to navigate
alike, in fact, that it takes hours
while the Getty has acquired impor-
to figure out where you are in
tant and expensive paintings, the
See LOS ANGELES, C9, Col. I
quality and authority of the collection
is still badly diluted by the inclusion
of many second-rate works. The
dimly lighted gallery devoted to Rem-
brandt and his circle, for example,
doesn't come close to telling us why
we should love Rembrandt or what
made him great.
1 nere's also another serious and
Proof that big L.A. money
pervasive problem here: insultingly
"Irises," the $54 million wonder, but
and good taste can creatively
simple-minded labels that serve only
now imprisoned under glass, badly
coexist came, of all places, at
to expose the Getty's muddled atti-
framed and poorly lit. "Give it a
the home of Hollywood super-
tudé toward its public. Eager to be
moment," I told myself.
agent Ovitz, who lives in a
seen as relevant rather than elitist or
But the thrill never came. And I
disconcertingly modest red-
overly art-historical, the Getty has
left, wondering whether "Irises" was
brick pillared house not far
apparently decided to solve the mat-
really just a second-rate painting after
from O.J. Simpson's former
ter by talking down. For instance:
all, or whether its handling at the
place in Brentwood. What
Does it really enhance our experience
Getty had somehow managed to
Ovitz has, and the Getty lacks, is
to read that drawings in the collec-
tion are "works done on paper"? The
what appears to be a real passion for
Getty, mind you, has its own Getty
art, which he transmits in the way he
Education Institute for the Arts,
treats it. His very lived-in living
drain the life out of it.
which presumably dispenses knowl-
room, for instance, is a wonderfully
Fed up, I went downstairs, bought
edge. They'd do well to give their
harmonious combination of Chinese
a few postcards from the photogra-
Tabel writers a grant and send them
Ming furniture, Rembrandt etchings
phy collection, and headed for the
"to Washington, where they can learn
line waiting to take the tram back
and important 20th-century paint-
how it's done at the National Gallery
down to the real world below.
ings by Picasso and Dubuffet, all
and other national museums.
"Did you see the beautiful rainbow
That goes double for installation
over Bel Air?" someone asked.
and lighting departments. Unfortu-
Damned if I hadn't missed that, too.
inately, it's too late to improve the
blended together in a way that makes
"taste of the museum officials who
them resonate. Ovitz wakes up to the
approved the hideous 18th-century
bright green throb of a fan-shaped
French decorative arts installations.
abstraction by Ellsworth Kelly. And
By late afternoon, as our day at the
he comes home to a small, sweet
Getty drew to a close, the rain had
Fortunately, I saw several
sculpture by his cousin Joel Shapiro
stopped. So I set out to walk around
other art sights in Los Angeles
at the front door.
;outside, where sunlight now sparkled
off overflowing fountains and pud-
that offered everything that
Admittedly, there is the whiff of a
dled travertine. Below one of the
was missing at the Getty, with
heavy-handed 1980s dealer lurking
bridgelike walkways, a low-lying
passion at the top of the list.
behind some of Ovitz's paintings,
cloud masked the freeway, giving the
There were: a great con-
especially the dated-looking works by
'place the feel of a floating Shangri-La.
temporary house by Mexican
Julian Schnabel and David Salle, now
architect Ricardo Legoretta,
abandoned to the gallery wing, which
What a great place to study, or write
e book on courtesy of one of their big,
the private art collections of
Ovitz added. There is also a jaw
fat grants, I thought. The same
Michael Ovitz and Peter Nor-
dropper in this collection-Jasper
thought crossed many a colleague's
ton, and-best of all-a won-
Johns's "White Flag," brought back
mind that day.
drous, little-known establish-
from Japan last year and now hang-
M began to ponder the scant dimen-
ment called the Museum of
ing in the den, alongside a Rauschen-
siens of the eccentric, nearly forgot-
Jurassic Technology.
berg combine and an early de Koon-
ten-oil man monumentalized by this
Stylistically, the domestic
ing. But throughout, even when you
great pile: a man SO stingy that he
masterpiece Legoretta de-
smell a big investment, there is the
wouldn't pay the ransom to get his
signed for Arthur and Audrey
sense of art truly loved, lived with
Greenberg in Brentwood is as
and understood.
grandson back until kidnappers cut
off the boy's ear and delivered it in a
unlike Richard Meier's rigid
At the sprawling stone residence
box
Getty geometries as it could
of software mogul Peter Norton
Which reminded me that there
be (though, admittedly, so
(Norton Utilities, etc.) and his wife,
was one more painting I wanted to
was his assignment). Built in
Eileen, art is clearly the entire fami-
see:before I left: van Gogh's famous
the Mexican style, with high
ly's consuming passion, with video
"IHses," painted in 1889, soon after
stucco walls facing the street,
dolls, room-size installations, and oth-
the artist cut off his own ear. It has
the house embraces you with-
er up-to-the-minute creations all over
become the Getty's signature picture.
in, imposing a sense of calm
the place. Devoted above all to good
"Where's the van Gogh?" I asked a
and refuge. There is complexi-
humor and family fun, the collection's
guard. "Down at the end of the
ty as well, as Legoretta sets
pièce de résistance, installed in the
courtyard, in the building with the
mists of color afloat by master-
basement, is an entire, full-scale kitch-
big square windows," she said. Now
fully beaming light onto a
en covered with shimmering colored
able to navigate through the court-
bright yellow wall, or onto
beads and a sink full of dirty dishes
yard; I soon found the building and
lapis shutters. There is no
created by an artist named Liza Lou.
climbed to the second floor, confident
color in the Getty's anhedonic,
But the most unforgettable experi-
that, at last, rd find the aesthetic kick
sensually deprived world. I'd
ence I had in Los Angeles was at the
that had eluded me all day.
forgotten how good it can
Museum of Jurassic Technology, a
And there it was: van Gogh's
make you feel.
little-known storefront enterprise in
the Culver City area that my daugh-
ter tipped me off to. A hand-to-mouth
operation founded by artist-filmmak-
er David Wilson, it survives on
admission fees, sales from its tiny
shop painted black (like the rest of its
labyrinth of galleries), and sporadic
SUNDAY, MARCH 8, 1998 G9
grants from the NEA and the Andy
Warhol Foundation. Yet it accom-
plishes everything the Getty fails to
do: It fills you with wonder, and it
makes you think.
It's not an easy place to describe.
But it recalls the Smithsonian's gem
hall: a darkened space with small
display cabinets showing objects of
wonder and scientific curiosity. Ex-
cept here, we are shown the Camer-
oonian stink ant, a horn from the
back of an Englishwoman's head, and
a cutaway scale model of Noah's Ark.
The presentation is so convincing,
with its labels and esoteric footnotes,
its little dioramas and audio spiels,
that it takes some time before you
sense that something is amiss. Is this
7 stuff based on fact? Or is it the
invention of an installation artist? It
turns out to be a bit of both.
The most recent exhibition is
"Selected Collections From Los An-
geles Area Mobile Home and Trailer
Parks," a hilarious but bittersweet
takeoff on loan shows from private
collectors, now a staple in art muse-
ums. The room is centered with
sleek, vaguely coffin-shaped vitrines
filled with everything from expensive
china teacups to handmade lace un-
derwear. There is also a subsection
on trailer park disasters. You decide
whether the artist is kidding or not.
New Yorker writer Lawrence
Weschler wrote an entire book sort-
ing fact from fiction at the Jurassic,
titled "Mr. Wilson's Cabinet of Won-
der." He concludes: "It's like a muse-
um, a critique of museums, and a
celebration of museums-all rolled
into one."
Put another way, it's also a work of
art that uses the museum format to
question the authority of all museums
to dispense absolute truth, scientific
or aesthetic-including the Getty.