Unseen Photography

35 years of master works and unknown works

Image above: Courtesy of The J. Paul Getty Museum; cover story image: Horst P. Horst Hands, Hands, 1941 © The Estate of Horst P. Horst and Condé Nast, Courtesy of The J. Paul Getty Museum

BY: Sarah Sunday

35 years ago, the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles first established the Department of Photographs, a chapter of the museum’s life dedicated to the art of archiving and preserving. Since that beginning, the museum has become a timeless caretaker of photographs, expertly housing and maintaining the quality of priceless and precious images. With painstaking and deliberate safe keeping, the Getty has grown its number of in-house photographic prints to over 148,000. Yet, of that number, the vast majority of images have yet to be displayed.

Now, in celebration of 35 years of vibrant growth, the Getty has put on display 200 photographs, carefully selected by several curators, and never before seen by the public. The most wonderous aspect of this exhibition, is the fact that the photographs on display are by no means the most impressive, or the most famous. Unseen: 35 Years of Collecting Photographs is an assortment of photographs in which have all impacted the various curators in one way or another, each possessing a certain characteristic which made them, in some way, unforgettable. In the eyes of their beholders, they have been decidedly selected as treasures that cannot be hidden; they have, for the first time, been established as a cut above the rest.

The photographs span different eras, showcasing the historical, the contemporary, as well as all that lies in between. Names of the photographers showcased include Nan Goldin, Anthony Hernandez, Carrie Mae Weems, Mary Ellen Mark, Walker Evans, and Catherine Opie, among many others. Each print hung in the gallery is as different from its neighbor as can be imagined. There are no rules to this exhibition, and no patterns or trends to be found. It is a pure celebration of all aspects of art in photography.

As the years progress, the Getty has been steadily working towards creating a far more open and accessible art environment. Currently in the process of making the museum’s entire photographic catalogue available for viewing online, the process is slow, due to the sheer number of images under the Getty’s care. Nevertheless, slowly but surely, the museum is pulling back on the tethers of an immensely long curtain, exposing the work of all who have been collected by the museum – many of which are yet to be celebrated.

The exhibition is on display until March 8, 2020.