The Getty Museum's Unseen Photographs Revealed

A still life print by American photographer, Sharon Core, titled: Early American, Strawberries and Ostrich Egg (2007), part of the exhibition, Unseen: 35 Years of Collecting Photography, at the Getty Museum, in Los Angeles, Calif., on Monday, December 16th 2019. (Marco Pallotti/The Corsair)

In 1973, museum curator and art collector Sam Wagstaff moved away from acquiring paintings and sculptures, and began buying photographs. By the early 1980s he'd assembled one of the largest private collections in the world. He'd begun by collecting 19th and early 20th century photographs, and with the help of a young photographer named Robert Mapplethorpe — Wagstaff's protegé and lover — he turned his attention to more contemporary work.

In 1984, the Getty Museum created their Department of Photographs by acquiring several world-famous private collections, including over 26,000 prints that Sam Wagstaff had assembled. The Getty's dramatic entry into collecting photography immediately established it as a major center for photographic art.

On December 17th, the Getty opened an exhibition of never-before displayed photographs from their current trove of almost 150,000 prints. Aptly titled, Unseen: 35 Years of Collecting Photography, the exhibition celebrates the 35th anniversary of the founding of the Department of Photographs, and displays the enormous breadth and depth of the Getty's collection.

The show was organized by senior curator Jim Ganz, who led a team to pull a carefully curated exhibition from tens of thousands of widely diverse images. They first narrowed the selection to about 1,000 candidates, and from there progressed to, as Ganz said, "sitting around a big table, brainstorming about which photographs to include in the exhibition." 

A visitor views Veronica Kellndorfer's silkscreen on glass panels, titled Succulent Screen, part of the exhibition, Unseen: 35 Years of Collecting Photography, at the Getty Museum, in Los Angeles, California, on Monday, December 16th 2019. (Marco Pallotti / The Corsair)

The curators finally chose images that cover the whole range of photographic history and genres, featuring works by well-known names including: Julia Margaret Cameron, Carleton Watkins, August Sander, Man Ray, Walker Evans, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, and Andre Kertesz, William Eggleston, William Wegman, and Carrie Mae Weems.

The show is artfully laid out, with prints in logical groupings. Similar images by different artists are paired and scattered throughout the show. One noteworthy example is Sharon Core's color composition with an ostrich egg and strawberries, coupled with American photographer Paul Outerbridge’s black and white image of an egg illuminated by a spotlight.

A large print, titled Untitled, by Yale photography professor Gregory Crewdson is prominently displayed in a side room. The work is typical of his output: photographic recordings of elaborately planned tableaux that feature a lone character, usually with an unhappy expression on their face. Crewdson's work has been likened to painter Edward Hopper's, but this image seems derivative of that painter's style, and merely captures the sheen of Hopper's work, while missing the substance.

One of the highlights of the show is Veronica Kellndorfer's silkscreen on glass panels, titled Succulent Screen. Photographed at Frank Lloyd Wright's Freeman House in Los Angeles, the panels are impressively large, and evoke an alluring combination of beauty and gravitas. The reflections of museum-goers in the glass add another dimension to the piece.

Although this exhibition covers a lot of ground, both in terms of the history of photography, and the multiple genres and styles on display, it is coherent and engaging, and attendees will enjoy a thoroughly rewarding experience.

A still life print by American photographer, Paul Outerbridge, titled: Egg in Spotlight (1943), part of the exhibition, Unseen: 35 Years of Collecting Photography, at the Getty Museum, in Los Angeles, Calif., on Monday, December 16th 2019. (Marco Pallotti/The Corsair)