September 14, 2016

A Visit to London Post War Artists





Downtown Getty from the Getty.

The very early hour train to LA was wonderful but late.  Lunch with Bobbie and her niece, thrift shopping, dinner, and then I went with her to her painting class.  I like visiting LA for short dashes.  I have other friends in LA too, but this trip Bobbie and I elected to get together and visit two big shows at the Getty.

I’m not fond of the Getty.  Its acres of white marble on top of a hill in LA frankly bore me.  Often there are acres of mediocre art too.  I was grateful that there was art with some substance this visit.  A show of British post war art, and a series of dramatic, large-scale pinhole photographs that I really enjoyed.



A family visit.



Bobbie and Auerbach.

Bacon, Freud, Kossoff, Andrews, Auerbach, and Kitaj…mostly colorful, huge pieces some of which moved me.  Mostly.  Two of Andrews pieces will stick with me, but I was truly effected by the very large scale Learoyd photos.  If I had been a photographic scholar, I might have also enjoyed the French photographic history show.  It was very good, very informative, very well put together, and endless.

I’m am artist of the age of big stuff.

There’s a sculpture garden as you enter and leave the museum.  I loved those big pieces…nothing mediocre about them at all.  Nice powerful, hit you over the head works.


By the time the hour neared to get me to the train, Bobbie was still zip, dash, zinging along through the LA cacophony of traffic.  I didn’t get my Mexican dinner, but I made the on time train nicely.  Thanks for the visit dear Bobbie.  Thanks also to a kind conductor I was seated on the ocean side of the Business Class car and was the only person sans laptop.



Heading home backwards.



George was there to meet me by the train.  What joy.




Follow the exhibitions at the Getty from this link:

8 comments:

  1. Fun fact - I was temping at the Getty in their IT department when Kaylee was born, I was there less than 6 months. Behind the scenes (at least then, this was 2006) the place is a nightmare. The departments are all at each other's throats, the support staff doesn't understand the art, and the-then head of the place was embroiled in a trial over art-theivery.

    That said, I do love the place. I think it's an amazing piece of modern architecture and has so many cool and interesting nooks that not a lot of people know about. The collection is really top-notch when it comes down to it, and their rotating stuff is amazing. Plus, it doubled as Starfleet Headquarters in Star Trek Into Darkness!

    I used to take my lunches in the Gardens, there are very few better places in Los Angeles to just sit and read a book.

    Oh and the artwork that's NOT on display is amazing too. Every office is filled with all sorts of beautiful prints and art that the public never gets to see.

    Of course one of my major problems is that when J. Paul made his bequest, the one thing he said is the collections should be free to visit, including parking, and now it's what, $15 to park? Outrageous.

    We're going on the 23rd with Kaylee's new school. Stoked, haven't been in quite a while.

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  2. We didn't get to the Getty on the one occasion we were in LA. I would love to go there now. You make it sound interesting.

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  3. I still haven't been there, the Nixon Library, the Reagan library....much on my to-do list.

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  4. What a fun trip you had, Mage! You're an amazing artist, period! That is definitely a powerful sculpture making a pointed statement.

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  5. I would not understand much of the modern art, but I would enjoy the comparisons with other artists and the display info. Never been there. Maybe one day.

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  6. I'd love to see this. Wonderful you can take the train. Wish they still operated out here.

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  7. So glad you had a nice time. I feel the same way about the Getty.

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  8. I wish I had not passed up a chance to visit the Getty. It sounds demanding yet fascinating. Thanks for this glimpse, anyway.

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