Extra Credit Event2: Getty Center

My friends and I paid a visit to Getty Center during week 7 this quarter. Getty Center is not far away from UCLA campus, and it is famous for its architecture and views of Los Angeles. During my visit at Getty Center, I find it a very good place to further explore the relationship of art and technology. In addition, I have the chance to see Von Gogh's famous painting, Irises. 

Me and a staff at Getty

Beautiful view of Los Angeles at Getty

Upon my arrival, I was very impressed by a series paintings of ships. Why are there so many artists include ships in their paintings? 

One painting including ships

Another painting including ships 

When I read the synopses, I started to realize the reason. These paintings were created by Luca Carlevarijs, who lived from 1663-1730. At his time, ships are the major type of transport. Therefore, it is not hard to understand the reason why there are so many paintings about ships at that time. In my opinion, these two paintings can be considered as another perfect example of how artworks reflect the technology development as mentioned in my LACMA blog entry. Artists record the technology development by drawing down the things they have seen. In this example, artworks help people better know the history of technology development. 

A painting about human body

The painting above is about human bodies. I found the paintings at early 20th century in Getty Center focus on human bodies. It reminds me of week 4's topic -MedTech and Art. For example, during my study regarding the topic, MedTech and Art, I realized that many famous artists are also anatomists. Leonardo da Vinci may be the most famous one of them. He started the anatomical drawing by mastering knowledge of anatomy. Later on, more and more artists started to study anatomy and included human bodies in their artworks. These efforts of artists simply make the paintings more vivid and realistic. Based on these paintings about human bodies,I believe that Medtech and Art go hand in hand and cannot be separated. 

Von Gogh- Irises

I strongly recommend all my classmates to visit Getty Center. It is a very good place to enjoy great art near UCLA campus. People can check out free iPod for a audio guide. This is another great combination of art and science. High technology is used to better explain artworks for people. Thus, do not miss this great place!