The Getty Museum's repatriation crisis and James Ensor's scandalous art

¶ … Getty Museum

Before making plans to personally visit the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, I spent an hour or so researching the museum, Mr. Getty, and some of the issues that this richest of all art museums had recently faced. The assignment calls for finding out what is available to see, and I also found out what was not available to see. One important statue that I would have liked to have viewed was the ancient Greek "goddess of love," Aphrodite, that that iconic statue had been repatriated back to Italy in 2011. My research also showed that the trend for museums that have antiquities on display is to return those art pieces to their rightful countries, if they were purchased from dealers who either stole them or bought them from thieves. In fact the Getty Museum has given back 47 pieces in the last few years (the Metropolitan Museum in New York has given back 21). This has enormous historical significance because these treasures belong to the countries and the people in those countries, and it is an international crime to smuggle them out, or to buy them from someone who did smuggle them or otherwise obtained them through illegal means.

My Visit to the Getty Museum

Meanwhile, on a recent Tuesday afternoon I rode the tram up the steep hill to the Getty, which is a shining building on top a hill overlooking the ocean to the west and the City of Los Angeles to the south.

I walked through the halls and into the large high ceiling rooms that were crowded with visitors, and viewed several works of art that I really was drawn to -- but they were created before 1600, so they didn't qualify for this paper. However, I do have to explain that I truly enjoyed a painting by Flemish artist Lieven van Lathen ("Romance of Gillion de Trazegnies"). Three friars are pointing to a passage in a book, perhaps a Bible, and a man with a red hat looking not at the friars but at something above them (1464). The impression a viewer gets is that the friars were trying to point out something important in that book (probably the Bible) but the man in the tall red hat had higher aspirations.

Another painting I was attracted to was "The Crucifixion," a beautiful, stunning painting of Christ on the cross that was painted by Giuliano Amadei in the 15th century. I don't generally like drawings or paintings of Jesus Christ being murdered on the cross, but this one was very interesting because at the bottom of the main picture there is another smaller painting of a group of people apparently carrying the deceased savior to what they apparently thought would be his final resting place. On either side of the main drawing are smaller images of people who might be his disciples except that there are just ten of them.

Ansel Adams -- Getty Museum Exhibit

Moving from Ensor's paintings to an exhibit by the renowned photographer Ansel Adams is like going from a dungeon to the bright daylight on a sunny spring day in the mountains. The photos in this exhibit are familiar and stunning as well. The "Moon and Half Dome" shows that huge granite mountain in Yosemite Valley, with a three-quarters moon above. The black and white photo makes it even more dramatic. I had not seen the photo called "Dogwood Blossoms" before, and it's quite simple but still radiates life and beauty. "Yosemite Valley, Winter" is a photo of tree branches totally enveloped in ice and snow, and the branches are hanging low due to the oppressive weight the ice and snow have caused. The historical significance of Ansel Adams' work is more in reference to the natural world wonders that he photographed than relating to the man himself. In fact it is well-known that President Terry Roosevelt had a personal friendship with John Muir (who championed the preservation of Yosemite), and Muir took him on a three-day camping trip deep into the wilderness of Yosemite. It was partly from this experience, and in knowing Muir, that Roosevelt launched the idea of a National Parks system. Adams captured the majesty of Yosemite, so that the world could share in this amazing place.