Previously published on Decorati.com
By Emily Waldorf
The Getty just unveiled two exciting complementary exhibitions on March 31st: Made for Manufacture and Taking Shape: Finding Sculpture in the Decorative Arts. The two shows highlight some of the gems of the Getty permanent collection as well a few never before seen pieces on loan from historic Temple Newsam House in Yorkshire, England. Made for Manufacture showcases the detailed three-dimensional drawings that artists prepared prior to creating works of decorative art, including stained glass, small-scale metalwork, sculpture and architecture, tableware, and tapestry. These preparatory drawings are themselves fascinating mini-masterpieces, with a focus on the art of draughtmanship.
I had the pleasure of walking through the galleries with curator Charissa Bremer-David, who explained that Taking Shape was designed to explore the commonalities between works of sculpture and the decorative arts, which is a symbolic inquiry for the Getty, given the recent merger of the sculpture and decorative arts departments. Fascinating Continental and English Baroque and Rococo pieces, ranging from a forest of human-sized candlestands to intricate wall lights, firedogs, and mirrors, were taken out of their original contexts to be shown off as individual works of art, against white walls, in a neutral space. The Taking Shape exhibition also brought one of the Getty’s decorative art stars out of storage (due to concerns about damage), a theatrical gilt-wood side table attributed to Johann Paul Schor.
The following five questions were inscribed on the walls of the first gallery of Taking Shape and I thought they would be of particular interest to Decorati readers since they address fundamental design concerns:
1) Scale: Does size determine placement, and, therefore, function?
2) Number: Does creating a single work of art – or multiple pairs or sets – change an objects status?
3) Setting: How does location influence our conception of an artwork?
4) Material: Does the medium’s solidity, fluidity, permanence or fragility impact our perceptions?
5) Function: Does use or utility affect our aesthetic appreciation?”
Taking Shape: Finding Sculpture in the Decorative Arts and Made for Manufacture run through July 5, 2009 at the Getty Center.
