The Getty Malibu Villas

[BeyGon]

All these years, drive by, think I have to go there, finally we went today, just fabulous.
We went to the new Getty a few years ago but I hadn't even thought about stone or wood sculpture then and just looked. Same with the Smithsonian, interesting but didn't pay enough attention.
Today I put more thought into it, it's amazing what those people did 2000 years ago with a hammer and chisel.
Just a couple shots if anyone has any interest.


Ooops, right after the shot the guard told me I can't take pictures of this one, it's on loan.








These were 2500 BC

[Zeke]

The old Getty and the Huntington are not to be missed.

[craigster59]

Amen Zeke. I've always been blown away with the way the folds in the gowns are sculpted. Amazing.

[imcarthur]

The Getty villa is one place that I keep missing . . . someday . . .

For sculpture, the Bernini collection at the Borghese in Rome is hard to beat. Irritating city, however.

Ian

[BeyGon]

That's a little farther than my Z3 Coup will make in a day.

[tevake]

As you may know from my resent travel thread, I've been immersed in the art and architecture of that time for the last month. And like Craigster am blown away by their control of the material, the flowing robes, the ability to make the skin conform to the shape of muscles underneath. The subtle design details in huge buildings truly amazing. And realizing they were able to achieve all this with out power tool or carbon tipped cutting tool, mind boggling, big respect!

Re the Getty, the villa there as they contrast to the monument up in the hills illustrate a point that has come into focus for me. the setting is important to the enjoyment of the art being viewed. some of the modern monumental structures created as museums both art and auto, can get in the way of what they are created to display. Some things are better seen in a space that is human scaled.
In some of the older car museums the detailed period setting created to display cars of a certain era added to the enjoyment for me. Some of the Reno museum and the old Mercedes Museum are cases in mind. Anyone have thoughts on the matter?

Cheers Richard

[chapo]

Old Getty is awesome, go there soon. The place is sliding down the hillside. huge cracks in the outer landscape walls, etc. Drive by it daily. It wont last forever.

[BeyGon]

Originally Posted by chapo

Old Getty is awesome, go there soon. The place is sliding down the hillside. huge cracks in the outer landscape walls, etc. Drive by it daily. It wont last forever.

IF I won the lottery, IF the place was sliding downhill, IF they had a fire sale to get rid of things, there isn't a chance I could ever have enough money to buy the cheapest piece they wanted to sell.
He must have paid a lot of money even in the day to get those things that there isn't a chance of ever owning now.

[daepp]

Love the old Getty. And not just the contents - the villa itself, for those not in the know, is a copy from plans made of the villa of Herculaneum, covered by lava when Vesuvius erupted near Pompeii. So not only do you get to see the great antiquities, the building itself is a throwback to the first century AD, and has a killer view of the ocean to boot!

Yes, I guess I love the place!

[sc_rufctr]

Great stuff... I've always been fascinated by statues like this.
Right now I'm trying to imagine how hard it would be to produce something like that.

Meanwhile, Did you know that thousands of "Greek/Roman" statues have been melted down to produce lime by the Turks? (A long time ago, and the Greeks did this as well)

Also... The British ground up Egyptian mummies and sold the remains as a "medical preparation". It was called "Mumia"

[tevake]

The disrespect for the previous culture by the next to come along is stunning. Old temples torn down to reuse the building materials was common. And a real loss.
Didn't know that about the Mumia, and you have some! Wow, what does it taste like?

[tevake]

Nah really.
Daepp, if you like the period of Pompeii and the time around the eruption of Vesuvious. I've got just the book for you. Just read it while visiting the area and really enjoyed it. It's a historical novel by Robert Harris called Pompeii. Paints a vivid picture of live in that time, the political realities of the time, the importance of the aqueduct system, and the experience of the volcano erupting. It's a good read.

[imcarthur]

Yes, everybody stole from everybody. To the conqueror goes the spoils. The Roman appetite for Greek & Egyptian art & plunder is well documented. And some of the best Roman sculptures are Roman copies of ancient Greek pieces that are lost to time. The collectors of the 19th & 20th Centuries - the Grand Tour nouveau riche like Getty - were just the last in a long line.

Ian

[daepp]

Thanks for the tip Tevake - I'll check it out. I have been fascinated with the place and the period (and the old Getty) since Latin class in HS. We got a lot of history while trying to conjugate our verbs et al.

The view:

[imcarthur]

You inspired me. I have a 2;30 res on Friday. I arrive LAX @ 12:44 & hope that I can get there in time. Rental pickup @ Hertz & then drive straight there.

Ian

[daepp]

You will not be disappointed. Let us know what u thought.

[imcarthur]

I am looking forward to seeing a Roman villa that isn't strewn about a field in pieces.

Ian

[imcarthur]

Well, Despite LA's traffic best efforts to thwart my plans, I did make my 2:30 reservation & I got to the villa. 405 & PCH were both slammed & It took over an hour to drive from the LAX Hertz. And the drive to downtown LA afterwards was a pos as well.

Very nice grounds & an interesting collection. A lot of Attic blackware & small pieces - glass, coins etc. I particularly liked the Cycladic art as above.

Well worth the effort.

Ian