Descriptive Summary
Administrative History
Administrative Information
Scope and Content of Collection
Indexing Terms
Descriptive Summary
Title:
Art Works: Behind the Scenes at the Getty production materials
Date (inclusive): 1995-1998 (bulk 1997)
Number: IA40013
Creator/Collector:
J. Paul Getty Trust. Office of the President
Physical Description:
63.7 linear feet
(78 boxes, 1 enclosure, and 1 flat file)
Repository:
The Getty Research Institute
Institutional Records and Archives
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100
Los Angeles, California, 90049-1688
(310) 440-7390
archives@getty.edu
Abstract: The records date from 1995 to 1998 and primarily comprise audiovisual and production materials generated by the Getty film
project
Art Works: Behind the Scenes at the Getty (1997). Materials comprise film reels, tapes, contracts, daily logs, storyboards,
and other printed and electronic documentation on the project.
Art Works is a 28-minute promotional film created to highlight the activities of the five programs of the Trust that were
active during the time leading up to the opening of the Getty Center in 1997: the Getty Conservation Institute, Getty Grant
Program, Getty Information Institute, Getty Education Institute, and Getty Museum. The film briefly spotlights the newly-opened
Getty Center facility and highlights cultural heritage sites such as the Magao Grottoes, the Baltit Fort, and the Bonampak
murals.
Request Materials: To access physical materials at the Getty, go to the
library catalog record for this collection and click "Request an Item." Click here for
general library access policy . See the Administrative Information section of this finding aid for access restrictions specific to the records described
below. Please note, some of the records may be stored off site; advanced notice is required for access to these materials.
Language: Collection material is in
English
Administrative History
The J. Paul Getty Trust is a not-for-profit institution, educational in purpose and character, that focuses on the visual
arts in all of their dimensions. As of 2013 the Trust supports and oversees four programs: the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Getty
Foundation, the Getty Conservation Institute, and the Getty Research Institute. The J. Paul Getty Trust and Getty programs
serve a varied audience from two locations: the Getty Center in Los Angeles and the Getty Villa near Malibu, California.
The origins of the J. Paul Getty Trust date to 1953, when J. Paul Getty established the J. Paul Getty Museum as a California
charitable trust to house his growing art collections. Originally a small, private institution located in Mr. Getty's ranch
house near Malibu, the museum moved to the newly constructed Getty Villa in grounds adjacent to the ranch house in 1974. When
most of Mr. Getty's personal estate passed to the Trust in 1982, the Trustees decided that, given the size of the endowment,
it should make a greater contribution to the visual arts and humanities than the museum could alone. Out of this resolve grew
an expanded commitment to the arts in the general areas of scholarship, conservation, and education. This took the shape of
new programs including the Center for the History of Arts and Humanities, Art History Information Institute, Conservation
Institute, and Center for Education in the Arts, as well as smaller programs such as the Museum Management Institute and the
Program for Art on Film. Williams supervised the Trust's development of new program areas with the advice and recommendations
of advisors such as Lani Duke and Nancy Englander. In 1983 the trust's name was changed from the J. Paul Getty Museum to the
J. Paul Getty Trust to reflect its broader scope, with the museum becoming an operating program of the Trust.
Due to expanded operations and limited space at the original J. Paul Getty Museum in Pacific Palisades, the various programs
of the J. Paul Getty Trust were located at different sites throughout the Los Angeles basin during the 1980s and early 1990s.
The Trust's vision was to bring together most of their programs at a single site. A roughly 750-acre property in Brentwood
(west Los Angeles) was purchased by the Trust in 1983 and the following year Richard Meier & Partners was chosen to design
the Getty Center, which now houses the Trust, its programs, and additional space for the Museum.
Administrative Information
Access Restrictions
Accession 1998.IA.01 is open to qualified researchers with the following exceptions. The original camera rolls, film negatives,
and master tapes are restricted for preservation purposes. Raw footage and interim edits are only available where viewing
tapes (VHS) already exist. With the exception of materials that have been marked restricted or confidential and digital files
that have not yet been processed, the production records described in Series III are available for use.
The following types of records are permanently closed: records containing personal information, records that compromise security
or operations, legal communications, legal work product, and records related to donors. The J. Paul Getty Trust reserves the
right to restrict access to any records held by the Institutional Archives.
Publication Rights
Copyright 1997 J. Paul Getty Trust. Contact
Library Rights and Reproductions at the Getty Research Institute for copyright information and permission to publish.
Preferred Citation
[Cite the item and series (as appropriate)],
Art Works: Behind the Scenes at the Getty production materials, J. Paul Getty Trust. The Getty Research Institute (IA40013).
Acquisition note
The original accession 1998.IA.01 consisted entirely of audiovisual material (film and video) and was roughly 48 linear feet.
In 2011 some of the materials from accession 1998.IA.08 was merged with accession 1998.IA.01 to reunite materials that clearly
belonged together. Accession 1998.IA.08 was originally about 15 linear feet and contained all the documentation as well as
audiovisual material created by the production company Two Headed Monster, Inc. All materials were originally transferred
to Wim de Wit in Special Collections in 1998 by Evangeline "Vangie" Griego. Materials were transferred from Special Collections
to the Institutional Archives once the Archives was established.
Processing note
This inventory was created by Simon Yu and Cyndi Shein in 2012. Material has been rehoused if endangered; very minimal processing
has been performed. The description in this inventory was derived from film canisters/boxes, audiovisual tape labels, and
inventories provided by the production companies. The presence of dates, running times, and film content is inconsistent;
all known information has been included herein.
The computer disks described in Series III have been ingested but not transformed or processed.
Appraisal note
Two boxes of test shots were discarded because they were labeled "of no use to future work" by the creators. The tests were
shot to check exposures and adjust camera and lens functions.
Scope and Content of Collection
The records date from 1995-1998 and primarily comprise audiovisual and production materials generated by the Getty film project
Art Works: Behind the Scenes at the Getty, a J. Paul Getty Trust film that was completed in 1997. Materials include negatives (35mm film reels), various formats of
audio and video tapes, contracts, daily logs, storyboards, and other printed and electronic documentation on the project.
Art Works is a 28-minute promotional film created to highlight the activities of the five programs of the Trust that were active during
the time leading up to the opening of the Getty Center in 1997: Getty Conservation Institute, Getty Grant Program, Getty Information
Institute, Getty Education Institute, and Museum. The film also spotlights the newly-opened Getty Center facility. The working
title of the film was "Getty Film Project."
Excerpts of some of the interviews with Getty employees and select footage of the Getty facilities may also have been used
to produce a video on the "Getty Center Opening."
Art Works production information: Director: Paul Hopkins; executive producer: Harold M. Williams; produced by Gwen Walden; supervising
producer: Evangeline E. Griego; producer: Craig Potter; editor: Christopher Willoughby; co-executive producer: Susan Morris;
creative consultant: Brett Wickens, Frankfurt Balkind Partners; production company: OneSuch Films, Inc.; editing/design/post-production:
Two Headed Monster, Inc.; copyright 1997 The J. Paul Getty Trust.
Indexing Terms
Subjects - Corporate Bodies
Getty Center (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Getty Conservation Institute
Getty Education Institute for the Arts
Getty Grant Program
Getty Information Institute
J. Paul Getty Museum
Subjects - Topics
Art in education--United States--20th century
Cultural property--Conservation and restoration
Documentary films--Production and direction
Subjects - Places
Bonampak Site (Mexico)
Dunhuang (China)--Antiquities--Conservation and restoration
Hunza (Pakistan)--Historic buildings--Conservation and restoration
Karakoram Highway (China and Pakistan)
Genres and Forms of Material
Sound recordings--20th century
Video recordings--20th century