Roaming at the Getty Center on Friday Evening

We brought a picnic and friends to the Getty Center for a great dinner on the terrace overlooking West L.A. to the ocean.  Then we roamed through some galleries and enjoyed the art.  The Getty is open on Friday and Saturday evenings during the summer with musicians and modern dancers last week.  The parking is $10 after 5:00 and the crowd is small and the atmosphere relaxing.  We enjoyed the moon and stars as they appeared.

Here are a few pictures of what we enjoyed:

"Christ and Mary Magdalene, 1908, by Auguste Rodin, French, 1840-1917, Marble.  This sculpture was also called "The Genius and Pity" and "Prometheus and the Oceanid."  The description states that these themes, mixing the sacred and profane, relate to Rodin's conception of the creative life which involved suffering and martyrdom.  This sculpture was never cast in bronze.

We saw dancers and heard contemporary music at several sites on the Getty campus.

 This exhibit of prints made during the longest reigning king in French history, Louis XIV, was in the Research Institute building. The description states that Paris became the most important print producer in Europe...feuled by official policies that aimed to elevate the entire spectrum of the fine and decorative arts.  "Prints were at once a means of communication, a propaganda tool, and an art form in ever-increasing demand."   

"The coronation of Louis XIV in the Reims Cathedral," 1654, Etched by Jean Lapautre, French 1618-1682.   

"The Exchange of Arrows between Death and Cupid," 1665-1701, by unknown printmaker.

"Mademoiselle d'Armagnac in a Dressing Gown," 1695, etched by Antone Trouvane, French 1652-1708, etching and engraving with sections cut out and wool fabric pasted on the verso and showing through the recto.