Getty Center: Art all-around

By DAVE ZUCHOWSKI
New Castle News

September 01, 2007 12:16 am

— It’s a five-minute, quarter-mile ride up the mountain from the parking area to the Getty Center. The brief trip only adds to the sense of anticipation of seeing this remarkable art mecca, which has drawn more than 10 million visitors since it opened in December 1997. The computer-operated tram traverses an impressive landscape and gives the riders what architect Richard Meier calls the feeling "of being elevated out of their day-to-day experience." At the Arrival Plaza, visitors can walk along a broad stairway that leads to the museum entrance hall, where two small theaters show a 10-minute orientation film. It’s a handy way to get acquainted with the five, two-story pavilions that showcase the Getty’s collections of everything from ancient sculpture to modern photography. I signed on for one of the center’s architecture tours that acquainted me with Meier’s five-pavilion complex anchored by a central courtyard with its 120-foot long fountain and 46 jets that shoot arcing streams of water. The tour also gave me a chance to see some of the center’s panoramic views that extend from the sometimes snow-capped San Gabriel Mountains and downtown skyscrapers in the east to Catalina Island and the Pacific Ocean in the west. Most of the pavilions are covered in travertine, a limestone quarried near Rome and brought to Los Angeles. In all, 290,000 blocks weighing 16,000 tons were used in the project. The travertine quarry is the same one used to supply building material for the Coliseum and the colonnade of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Inside the buildings, the art works are arranged mostly in chronological order, beginning with antiquities and illuminated manuscripts in the North Pavilion; followed by sculpture and drawings in the East Pavilion; decorative arts in the South Pavilion; and sculpture and decorative arts in the West Pavilion. The center’s series of changing exhibitions are displayed in a fifth building on the western side of the campus. The paintings, which include works by Titian, Poussin, Rembrandt, Goya, Turner, Van Gogh, Monet, Cezanne and more, are housed on the upper story of the pavilions fitted with skylights that let in natural light. The idea behind the cluster of pavilions is to allow visitors to wander indoors and out, exploring both the art works and remarkable outside gardens and enjoying an espresso or snack available from one of the beverage carts installed in several convenient locations. Guided tours of the gardens designed by artist Robert Irwin and landscape architect Laurie Olin are scheduled several times throughout the day, and those wanting protection from the California sun are given parasols to carry along on the tour. Leading down to Irwin’s spectacular Central Garden — a maze of 400 azaleas set in a reflecting pool and surrounded by specialty gardens — is a zig-zag path, lined with plants loosely and unconventionally arranged by color and texture. It has a feature termed "a sculpture in sound." The element gets its name from a series of boulders placed at strategic locations in a watercourse to create different sounds by the flowing water. Further on, at the center’s South Promontory, a recreated desert landscape recalls Los Angeles’ pre-urban era, when golden barrel and column cacti, euphorbia, agave and ice plant thrived before the day of skyscrapers and freeways. Throughout the year, the Getty offers lectures, panel discussions, adult courses, film screenings, poetry readings and musical, theater and dance performances. Children and their caregivers can also explore art together in a hands-on fashion in the Family Room, located in the East Pavilion.

IF YOU’RE GOING ...
Getty Center

The Getty Center is located at 1200 Getty Center Drive, just off the San Diego Freeway in Los Angeles. Admission is free, but parking is $8.
Hours are from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays, and from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Call (310) 440-7300 or log on to www.getty.edu.
Hungry? The Getty Center offers a variety of dining options, both indoors and out, with a range of menus and prices. In addition to the center’s food and beverage, the Garden Terrace Café has a menu that caters to casual outdoor dining.
The Restaurant at the Getty has a spectacular view looking west toward the Pacific and offers a menu of fine dining options along with a distinctive wine list, including selections from the prestigious Moraga Vineyards, located on a hillside just across the freeway from the center.