Museum Report
A recent visit to the Getty Villa convinced me one more time that art turns humans into social beings. The significance of art in people’s lives is crucial because it brings beauty, sophistication, and elegance. On the basis of the given paper, I will provide the general description of the Getty Villa, enumerate several exhibitions, and discuss the most impressive artifacts. Finally, I will assess the contribution of my visit to the course material.
The Getty Villa is well-known for its enormous contribution to the spheres of art and culture of several regions, including Rome, Etruria, and Greece. This fabulous museum attracts its visitors due to its impressive gardens and architecture. Moreover, the Getty Villa with its fascinating statutes, unbelievable marbles, valuable figurines, and exceptional paintings resembles heaven on earth. Taking into account the historical data, it is important to note that John Paul Getty, one of the most well-known oil tycoon, opened the Getty Villa approximately 50 years ago. Despite the fact that the museum was the ownership of Paul Getty, he never visited this unbelievable beautiful place. In 2006, the Getty Villa was restored and reopened. At present, this rare place surprises its visitors with the help of Roman-inspired architecture and pompous Roman-style gardens. In general, the museum is not an ordinary place with imperceptible sculptures and “second-hand” paintings. On the contrary, the Getty Villa is a capturing miracle that makes people come back to observe this unique beauty one more time. To be honest, this fascinating place deeply impressed me as this museum is the birthplace for masterful and original artworks that exceed all expectations.
I would like to state that I visited the Getty Villa and the Getty Center. Before visiting these charming places, I used the “Getty Guide” that is available on the official site of the Getty Villa. This guide really helped me as it made my visit easier and more comfortable. I would like to stress that I visited numerous exhibits that drastically changed my expectations and attitudes towards the importance of art in my life. Some exhibitions impressed me so much that I could not grasp for air. When I saw the exhibition Molten Color: Glassmaking in Antiquity on the territory of the Getty Villa, I thought it would be the best exhibition ever. This unusual exhibition consists of approximately 350 pieces of famous ancient glass. Thus, the glass is considered to be the focus of this remarkable exhibition. However, as far as I know, the Getty Villa is the birthplace or home for unique antiquity collections that were the ownership of Paul Getty in the past. The Getty Villa houses an enormous collection of Greek and Roman antiquities that date back to 6,500 B.C. Moreover, the exhibition that includes bronze sculptures of the Hellenistic World impressed me as well. This exhibition includes portraits of famous men and women that, in the majority of cases, are made of copper, silver, and bronze.
The recent visit to the Getty Villa suggested me an idea that the majority of artifacts, including paintings and sculptures, explain gender perception and relations in the ancient world. In my opinion, artifacts and antiquities stored in the remarkable Getty Villa were created for some particular purposes. Moreover, these purposes were not only aesthetic but practical as well. According to my assumptions and observations, the majority of artifacts manifest the domination of females who were extremely strong and self-sufficient. For instance, artifacts that depict Amazonian women prove that females dominated during that period. I believe that most sculptures directly associated with male individuals were created in a feminine manner. For example, one of the exhibits called Women and Children in Antiquity extremely impressed me. This artwork proves that the majority of artifacts are depicted in a so-called non-male related way. Besides, there were several collections that depicted busts of females. However, I saw no information except “Bust of a Woman, Catalog of the Getty Collection”. As for me, the absence of information means that women at a certain period were only identified through their close relationships with male individuals. Moreover, this assumption may serve as a convincing argument that females did not have equal rights as compared with males. Another artifact, Portrait Head of Agrippina the Younger, located in the Getty Villa is uncommon and impressive. However, in comparison to male sculptures, this artifact seemed ageless and unnatural. Finally, the depiction of men in Antiquity Gallery situated on the second floor fascinated me. This collection provides enough arguments that gender was not treated equally on the territory of ancient Greece and several other regions.
As a result, having reviewed and evaluated the historical significance of the Getty Villa, described fascinating exhibitions, and assessed attitudes towards gender on the territory of Ancient Greece on the basis of several artifacts, I would like to summarize that my visit to the Getty Villa contributed to an understanding of the course materials. I suppose that this visit was helpful because it gave me a unique chance to penetrate into the world of art. Enormous and, at the same time, a unique collection of antiquities convinced me that art does not have “shelf life” as it exceeds time and space. The Getty Villa is a valuable educational resource that may inform its visitors about relationships and significance of males and females in ancient and modern history.
The essay was written by the professional writer from https://plagiarismsearch.com/ — Milly Jones.
