Visit to the Getty Museum

On October 25-26, 2019, eleven EWU students enrolled in Catherine Girard’s art history seminar travelled to Los Angeles, California, where they visited the special exhibition Manet and Modern Beauty at the J. Paul Getty Museum.

Made possible by a generous grant from the Art History Fund to Travel to Special Exhibitions administered by College Art Association (CAA), this trip allowed students to experience hands-on how the materiality of an artwork may shape its meaning.

The students made sure to explore the architecture of the Getty and the view of Los Angeles.

Entering the Exhibition

The excitement of the students was palpable as they finally entered the exhibition!

After studying from the exhibition catalogue endlessly, the students finally got a first-hand look at Manet’s painterly technique. The minute details of the floral still life’s, nudes, and portraits came to life before their very eyes.

Each student had a painting that was their focus and rumor has it that many students were moved to tears when they first met “their” painting in the flesh.

Deep Look Sessions

During their time in the Manet exhibition, students completed two “deep look” sessions. Each session consisted of spending one hour alone in front of their painting to examine its pictorial surface to write.

The exhibition was very popular and always packed meaning the students had to maneuver through the crowds to create a sustained intimacy with their paintings.

The hours spent examining the surface of the artworks provided exceptional access to material questions as Manet used various brushwork techniques—from prima to scraping. Students discovered that the figure known as the Father of Modernism had a nuanced understanding of women’s experiences, and that he represented women sitters as whole beings with complex inner lives

The Curator Makes the Exhibit

Students loved Emily Beeny’s cool demeanor and cowboy boots! The appreciation was mutual as Beeny expressed her deep admiration for our students’ “loving attention to the show,” adding that “meeting a group of undergraduates so knowledgeable about and so engaged with this generally little-known aspect of Manet’s oeuvre was impressive, moving, and more than a little surreal.”

Final Reflections

As the group prepared to leave Los Angeles, Girard reflected that this experience reaffirmed her commitment to inclusive pedagogy, and to creating opportunities for the beautiful and creative beings of the Inland Northwest. Many EWU students are first-generation with little travel experience, and most had not set foot in a major art museum despite their deep-seated interest for art. Most importantly, this trip created a crack in the façade of an art world that sometimes feels distant, sheltered behind a wall of privileges to which our student population does not have access.

The students and Girard express their gratitude to CAA for its commitment to diversity in art history by offering the Art History Fund for Travel to Special Exhibitions to EWU.

Special Thanks

Students showcased their appreciation to Professor Girard with a print and replica puppy of the Portrait of Maria Frederike van Reede-Athlone at Seven, an eighteenth-century pastel on vellum by  Jean-Étienne Liotard after they learned that is was not on display.

Professor Girard’s work to make this trip possible will always be appreciated.

Learn More About the Art Program