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Free Tickets Now Available for a Conversation between Painter John Currin and President and CEO of the J. Paul Getty Trust James Cuno at the Getty Center on Sept. 14

The Pair Will Discuss Old Masters’ Influence on Contemporary Painting

John Currin photo by Suzanne Bennett; James Cuno photo © 2011 J. Paul Getty Trust
LOS ANGELES Aug. 7, 2014—Painter John Currin and President and CEO of the J. Paul Getty Trust James Cuno will be in conversation at the Getty Center on Sept. 14 at 3 p.m. Co-presented with The Broad museum’s Un-Private Collection art talk series and the Getty Museum’s Getty Perspectives series, the conversation will look at how classical painting influenced Currin’s modern interpretation of the form. The talk will consider Currin’s works in the Broad collections and classical paintings from the Getty collection. Free tickets are now available to the general public.

The Broad launched The Un-Private Collection talk series last year to present public conversations with cultural leaders and influential contemporary artists in the Broad collections in the months leading up to the museum’s 2015 opening. Collectors Eli and Edythe Broad have assembled a significant representation of Currin’s work, some of which will be on view to the public when The Broad opens in downtown Los Angeles next year. Currin emerged in the 1990s as one of the freshest voices in American art and was among a wave of contemporary artists who established a renewed interest in portraiture. Drawing from sources as diverse as Northern Renaissance paintings and pinup magazines, he is known for his distortions of the human figure and his critiques of societal ideals of beauty. Currin is also known for his contemporary renditions of old master poses and formats that often conflate opposing sensibilities—vaulted taste with vulgarity, sentimentality with irony, and conventional beauty with banality.

James Cuno joined the J. Paul Getty Trust as president and CEO in August 2011. A national and international museum leader and scholar, Cuno was president and Eloise W. Martin Director of the Art Institute of Chicago before joining the Getty. Prior to directing the Art Institute of Chicago, he held positions at the Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London; Harvard University Art Museums; the Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College; the Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts, UCLA; and Vassar College.

Often rife with art historical references and suggestions, Currin’s work overlays with the Getty’s mission as an institution dedicated to critical thinking in the presentation, conservation, and interpretation of the world’s artistic legacy.

Free; advance reservations highly recommended. Reserve free tickets: http://www.getty.edu/museum/programs/lectures/cuno_currin_conversation.html

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