J

J. PAUL GETTY MUSEUM

Located on the heights of Los Angeles’s hills of
Santa Monica, the Getty houses two renowned
photography collections at the J. Paul Getty Mu-
seum and at the Getty Research Institute. Oil
tycoon J. Paul Getty (1892–1976) first established
the museum in 1953 as an educational establish-
ment dedicated to his collection of European paint-
ing, decorative arts, and classical antiquities. In
1976, his substantial bequest funded one of the
most expansive acquisition strategies of the 1980s,
enlarging the museum and establishing the research
institute. The two collections at these institutions
represent two different discourses in photogra-
phy—its establishment as an art form and reconci-
liation with its nineteenth-century functions. Both
establishments have purchased a number of Amer-
ican and European private collections, providing
historical reflections on photography’s varied de-
velopments, beginning from 1839 through the mo-
dernist era.
J. Paul Getty’s substantial bequest, reportedly
nearing $2.3 billion, reached the Getty Trust in
1982 and decisions were made to create new
departments for the museum (illuminated manu-
scripts, prints and drawings, sculpture, and photo-
graphy) and to create additional organizations that
underscored existing programs in education, con-

servation, and scholarship. With this expansion the

J. Paul Getty Museum was joined by the Getty

Research Institute for the History of Art and the

Humanities, the Getty Conservation Institute, the

Getty Information Institute, the Getty Education

Institute for the Arts, and the Getty Leadership

Institute for Museum Management. These organi-

zations now form ‘‘the Getty,’’ located in a con-

temporized design of a classically inspired structure

built by leading architect Richard Meier. Initially

located in Malibu, the Getty opened at its specta-

cular new site in Santa Monica in 1997 and received

widespread, international exposure.

Since its inception, photography competed for

artistic authority and acceptance into museums.

Although major institutions such as the Metropoli-

tan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art

in New York, and the George Eastman House (now

International Museum of Photography and Film) in

Rochester, New York, began collecting as early as

1928, photography was still relegated to a second

class status within most art museums. Following

the Museum of Modern Art’s landmark exhibition

The Family of Manin 1955, photography permeated

a public audience. Even so, the Getty was a late-

comer to the collecting of photography. This was

ameliorated considerably by the Getty trust, which