theGETTY A WORLD OF ART, RESEARCH, CONSERVATION, AND PHILANTHROPY | Fall 2017 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE theGETTY Fall 2017 TABLE OF President’s Message 3 he Getty was founded on the principle that the arts CONTENTS transcend political borders and help us better under- In Memoriam 4 Tstand different cultures, times, and places. In this spirit, we have launched Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA—a New and Noteworthy 6 bold, grand exploration of Latin American and Latino art in dialogue with Los Angeles. Through this initiative we can Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA 8 recognize the cultural connections that unite us and build bridges instead of walls. Grants Support PST: LA/LA K–12 Education Program 14 Inspired by our first widely acclaimed collaboration Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A., 1945–1980—and spear- Golden Kingdoms 16 headed by the Getty Foundation with more than $16 million in grants—this extraordinary initiative supports more than Concrete Limits 20 eighty visual art exhibitions at more than seventy cultural institutions, more than 500 performances and public pro- The Birth of the Metropolis in Latin America 24 grams, and some sixty publications. This issue’s cover story highlights a range of PST: LA/LA Itineraries 28 exhibitions and programs, giving readers an idea of the topics our partner institutions chose themselves based on what they Book Excerpt: Photography in Argentina 31 believed would be revelatory, exciting, or provocative. Next, we focus on a program that offers K–12 students innovative New from Getty Publications 32 ways to learn from PST: LA/LA’s extraordinary exhibition series. The Getty has worked with the LA Promise Fund and New Acquisitions 34 LAUSD to create activities such as free professional develop- ment summer workshops for teachers to prepare them for From The Iris 35 school visits to the exhibitions. This issue also focuses on PST: LA/LA exhibitions Getty Events 38 presented at the Getty. An article about the rare objects featured in Golden Kingdoms: Luxury and Legacy in the Jim Cuno Exhibitions 42 Ancient Americas offers insight into how value is culturally constructed. Our story about Making Art Concrete: Works From the Vault 43 from Argentina and Brazil in the Colección Patricia Phelps sponsor Bank of America and other funding partners, rep- de Cisneros explores the avant-garde artists of the Concrete resentatives of the City and County including Mayor Eric movement and reveals what conservators and researchers Garcetti, and everyone at the Getty who worked tirelessly over have discovered about their materials, methods, and motiva- the past five years. We know that Harold would be proud to tions. We learn how the birth of the metropolis transformed have witnessed this turning point in the history of art. We will Send correspondence and address Editor the architectural landscape in six Latin American capitals, a continue to honor him by working every day to fulfill all that changes to subject explored in The Metropolis in Latin America, 1830– he envisioned for the Getty. Jennifer Roberts Getty Communications 1930. Meanwhile a story about Video Art in Latin America (on I invite you to enjoy the many PST: LA/LA exhibitions 1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 403 Designer view at LAXART) chronicles how art historians at the GRI and related activities taking place this fall at the Getty and Los Angeles, CA 90049 Jessica Robinson launched the first-ever study of how experimental video art throughout Southern California, and to join in the conver- Email: [email protected] emerged in Latin America. sation on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. For the latest Contributors We also take this opportunity to remember Harold M. information on Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA, please visit On the cover: Williams, J. Paul Getty Trust founding president and CEO, pacificstandardtime.org. Idurre Alonso Alexandria Sivak Objeto ativo (cubo vermelho/branco), Active Object (red/ who passed away on July 30. Harold envisioned the Getty as white cube), 1962, Willys de Castro. Oil on canvas and plywood. The Museum of Modern Art, New York, promised Sarah Claypoole Annelisa Stephan we know it today—a multifaceted institution that focuses on gift of Patricia Phelps de Cisneros through the Latin American and Caribbean Fund in honor of Tomás Orinoco Amy Hood Sarah Waldorf the arts from diverse points of view. PST: LA/LA would not Griffin-Cisneros, 1997.127. Image courtesy Walter de have been possible without Harold’s foresight into the power Maureen McGlynn Chelika Yapa Castro. On view in Making Art Concrete: Works from of collaboration—in this case an ambitious, region-wide col- Argentina and Brazil in the Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros. Text and design © 2017 J. Paul Getty Trust Carly Pippin Desiree Zenowich laboration between dozens of institutions, our presenting 2 3 IN MEMORIAM he Getty community mourns the Paul Getty Trust’s Board of Trustees. passing of Harold M. Williams, “He shall be remembered for his enor- Tfounding president and CEO mous contributions to the arts and of the J. Paul Getty Trust from 1981 to humanities.” 1998. Williams died July 30, 2017 at Williams was born in Philadelphia his home in Santa Ynez, California at on January 5, 1928. He moved with his the age of eighty-nine. He created the family to Boyle Heights in East LA as a modern Getty Trust as a multifaceted boy when his older brother was offered institution devoted to scholarship, con- a scholarship to USC. Williams won his servation, education, philanthropy, and own scholarship to UCLA, graduating the presentation of the visual arts in Los Phi Beta Kappa when he was eighteen Angeles and all over the world. He envi- with a bachelor of arts in political sci- sioned and brought to fruition the Getty ence. He earned a law degree at Harvard Center, now one of the most visited art University when he was twenty-one, destinations in the United States. supporting himself with accounting Williams was appointed to the jobs—his father, an accountant, had Getty’s helm shortly after he com- trained him during his Roosevelt High pleted four years as chairman of the US School days. Williams began his law Securities and Exchange Commission practice at a small firm in Los Angeles, Nancy Englander and Harold Williams under President Carter. Previously he specializing in criminal tax fraud had served as president of Hunt-Wesson cases, then served in the Korean War. the Getty Center. Following his retire- Foods, chairman of the board of Norton After briefly returning to the firm, he ment, he was of counsel to the law firm Simon Inc., and as dean of UCLA’s accepted a job in 1956 as associate tax of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Anderson School of Management. counsel for the company that would Flom and served on nonprofit boards at He joined the Getty when the Board become Hunt-Wesson Foods and then UCLA, the California Endowment, and of Trustees was deciding how best to Norton Simon, Inc. He would serve at elsewhere. A UC regent from 1982 to use the considerable resources left by those companies as president and chair- 1994, he maintained a strong commit- founder J. Paul Getty. He hired Nancy man of the board, respectively. ment to K–12 and higher education and Englander as director of program plan- Norton Simon fostered his interest to the diverse Los Angeles community ning and analysis, and they spent a year in art, seeking his opinion of possible art throughout his life. researching the Getty’s fields in the acquisitions during the time Williams Williams and Nancy Englander, US and abroad, talking and listening to worked for him. While dean of the whom he married in 1987, were hon- experts, and designing the larger mis- Anderson School, Williams pioneered a ored in 2013 by the Getty Trustees sion. As a result, they established sev- program in arts management. In 1994, with the inaugural J. Paul Getty Medal. eral other programs in addition to the President Clinton appointed him to the “It’s deeply gratifying to see the Getty Museum and hired the founding Getty President’s Committee on the Arts and continue to fulfill the promise we envi- program directors. Humanities. And in 1995, he became sioned,” Williams said at the time. “We “Harold envisioned and then built a co-founding chair of the UCLA Arts are honored to have helped conceive of the Getty Center as a museum, library, Board of Visitors. the modern Getty, and to watch it take conservation institute, grant program, When Williams retired as the Getty’s shape.” and public space for the greater appre- president and CEO on his seventieth Harold Williams was a great man, ciation, understanding, and preserva- birthday, a few weeks after the Getty a visionary, and a humanitarian who tion of the world’s artistic legacy,” says Center opened in 1997, he said, “I have left a huge legacy, and we will miss him Jim Cuno, the Trust’s president and accomplished everything I came to do.” dearly. He is survived by his wife Nancy GETTY TRUST FOUNDING PRESIDENT AND CEO CEO since 2011. “We are all deeply in his In gratitude for all that he had done Englander; a son, Ralph Williams; a debt.” during his tenure, the trustees named daughter, Susan Zajdman; a stepson, “The Getty today—its global reach the Getty Center’s main auditorium for Derek Magyar; and four grandchildren, HAROLD M. WILLIAMS and its Southern California presence—is him. He continued to take a keen inter- Drew Williams, Jenna Williams, Elana a legacy of Harold M. Williams,” adds est in the work of the Getty as president Zajdman, and Josh Zajdman.