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exhibit
01/12/2009
The Getty Sketchbooks
In most architectural design competitions, the architects are asked to develop the design for a building and present it in an elaborate show of drawings, models and often a public exhibit. A winner is selected based on these carefully prepared, usually expensive designs that have often taken months to prepare.
The architect for the Getty Villa in Malibu, however, was selected in a completely different way. From a list of 24 candidates, six were given an 11” x 14” bound artist’s sketchbook. The sketchbooks were to be returned in 2 weeks and the architect would be given the commission based on the contents of the sketchbook. The Getty Building Committee was looking not for a final design, but for a highly creative architect and the old tradition of the architect’s sketchbook was to be employed here to evaluate the creative skills and potential of the candidates.
This is an exhibition about the original sketchbooks that were used to select an architect for the design of the Getty Villa that reopened in 2006. Prepared with the support of a grant from the USC program, Advancing Scholarship in the Humanities and Social Sciences, The Getty Sketchbooks document the history and evolution of the Villa site in Malibu and show how artist’s sketchbooks were used in a competition to select an architect from six finalists. The exhibit panels present reproductions of about 200 sketches and drawings from the original books in the Getty Archives, including an analysis of the concepts and design process of each architect as well as excerpts from personal interviews.
The Advancing Scholarship in the Humanities and Social Sciences program is designed to promote the development of high quality and influential scholarly publications in the socials sciences, arts, and humanities.
An opening reception will be held at 6 pm on Wednesday, January 14.
Gallery hours are 10 am to 5 pm Monday through Friday.
