6
FOREWORD
Anyone wanting a sample of the Getty
Museums growth in the past decade should
put this book next to its predecessor of 1986
and turn the pages.
Between editions there have been 115
additions to the collection of French furniture
and decorative arts, a collection that in 1984
was already the glory of the Getty Museum.
These acquisitions include material in virtually
every category, including objects of a kind
conspicuously lacking in the earlier edition:
various individual types of furniture not yet
represented, a group of especially beautiful
and rare French and German porcelain, and
a miscellany of fine Neoclassical pieces.
This astute purchasing has been the work
of Gillian Wilson, who came to the Getty
Museum in 1971 to build up the collection and
apply a professional standard to its care and
publication.
Just as striking in this edition is the addi
tion of entire categories to the Getty Museum
collection, accomplished since 1984 by a
new curatorial department under Peter Fusco.Although European sculpture is the main
focus of this department, it is also charged with
broadening the representation of European
furniture and decorative arts. Collections of
Italian maiolica and European glass were
among its first purchases. Since then Italian
furniture, Kunstkammer objects, metalwork,
and works of art in many other categories
have been added. Altogether, these total some
141 acquisitions.
As I write, the foundations are being
poured for a new museum that will house
these collections. For French furniture and
decorative arts there will be some sixteen
galleries en suite, including five complete pan
eled rooms—space enough, at last, to exhibit
the collection in the style it deserves. In other
parts of the building, galleries are being
designed for sculpture, glass, maiolica, metal-
work, and other works of art outside France;
some of this material will be shown in the
paintings galleries as well. Since we can exhibit
only a mere sampling in Malibu, the opening
of the new museum will be an unveiling and
celebration of these remarkable collections.Γ owe Gillian Wilson and Peter Fusco,
whose taste can be detected everywhere in
this catalogue, my admiration for what they
have brought about. Their staffs, especially
Charissa Bremer-David, Peggy Fogelman,
and Catherine Hess, have my gratitude for the
collaboration that made the book possible.John Walsh
Director