Getty one day, Getty the next ...
Venice Beach
August 14th, 2018
Today we had two places to visit. The Getty Museum and the Griffith Observatory and Park. We got to the Getty just after 10am and realised that it was going to take us all day to see the Museum, so we've left Griffith Observatory and Park for next time.
The Getty Museum is an architectural masterpiece. Its built across a ridge line in the mountains overlooking Los Angeles. The architect, Richard Meier - known for his use of white walls and a minimalist style, has done a superb job.
Everything is based on a 30 inch square or multiple thereof. From the size of the paving stones through to the doorways, open spaces and windows, they are all 30 inch multiples. Why 30 inches? Well, that's known as the human distance. In other words, that's how far apart we stand when we talk to each other. It's an arm's length.
Meier also used the angle of the ridge line and the 405 freeway, which is 22.5 degrees, as the basis for some of the paving stone alignment. We did an architectural tour which was fascinating. It took 12 years to build and was opened around 2008 (I think).
It has a whole lot of exhibitions in four main buildings, North, South, East and West. It houses Van Gogh's 'Irises' and 'Arles: View from the Wheatfields', together with some Turner, Cezanne and Rembrandt.
The Egyptian exhibition has a genuine sarcophagus and lots of Egyptians artifacts.
Today there was a display of fashion photography over the past 100 years.
There are also 'outdoor' rooms - spaces that make it easy to gather and talk together. The facing on many of the vertical surfaces is genuine Travertine marble from 2,000 year old marble quarries outside Rome. The same ones that supplied the marble to the Romans when the city was built.
The open areas, paved with 30 inch square marble pieces, channel any rain water to underground storage areas through mortarless gaps, so there's no remaining surface water. Truly well thought out. This was a great addition to our visit yesterday to the Getty Villa.
Tomorrow we take our LA rental car back and head to Seattle around midday. The home of Boeing, Starbucks and Microsoft.
August 14th, 2018
Today we had two places to visit. The Getty Museum and the Griffith Observatory and Park. We got to the Getty just after 10am and realised that it was going to take us all day to see the Museum, so we've left Griffith Observatory and Park for next time.
Everything is based on a 30 inch square or multiple thereof. From the size of the paving stones through to the doorways, open spaces and windows, they are all 30 inch multiples. Why 30 inches? Well, that's known as the human distance. In other words, that's how far apart we stand when we talk to each other. It's an arm's length.
It has a whole lot of exhibitions in four main buildings, North, South, East and West. It houses Van Gogh's 'Irises' and 'Arles: View from the Wheatfields', together with some Turner, Cezanne and Rembrandt.
Today there was a display of fashion photography over the past 100 years.
There are also 'outdoor' rooms - spaces that make it easy to gather and talk together. The facing on many of the vertical surfaces is genuine Travertine marble from 2,000 year old marble quarries outside Rome. The same ones that supplied the marble to the Romans when the city was built.
Tomorrow we take our LA rental car back and head to Seattle around midday. The home of Boeing, Starbucks and Microsoft.
Did I ever tell you about the time I was filming in Seattle, visiting a little coffee roaster each morning. One day the owner, whom I got to know well over the five weeks, asked if I would like to invest $1000 in his coffee shop. He assured me one day he would have stores all over America. I told him no thanks, and headed off to buy a $42,000 motor car I found nearby which I thought was a great deal. The $1000 investment would today be worth $207,000 the $42K.....I can’t bring myself to write it.
ReplyDeleteIf only eh? Nice story. Now did you hear about the guy who asked me about investing in Apple? I told him I wasn’t interested in orchards. 😉
ReplyDeleteHusk: How did you take the photos of the road from up so high?
ReplyDeleteJorge: What is a sarcophagus?
Matt: Did you get any photos of the other paintings?
Husk: Hang On, hang on, for the last question that Jorge asked, yea, what is a sarcophagus?
ReplyDeleteHi Husky and Jorge and Matt. The Museum is built on the side of a hill, so because you are up high, you can look down on the freeway. A sarcophagus is like a coffin and was used by the ancient Egyptians to bury important people. It took a long time to prepare the body and they lasted for over 3,000 years. Amazing.
ReplyDeleteMatt - yes, took lots more pics of paintings. I will need to look at them again to work out which ones. I will send you a picture of the sarcophagus.