🆓 Happy FREE Friday! 🆓 Each Friday, we highlight a free book from Getty's Virtual Library! 📚 🌿🌷This week, learn about "Gardens of the Renaissance" from 2013. This vibrantly illustrated text explores gardens on many levels, whether part of a grand villa or an extension of a common kitchen, it highlights how gardens in the Renaissance were planted and treasured in all reaches of society. From the literary Garden of Love and the biblical Garden of Eden to courtly gardens of the nobility, this book reports on the many activities—both reputable and scandalous—that took place there. 🌿🌷 Learn more here: getty.edu/publications-repor…

🌐 From October 19-25, we celebrate Open Access Week, a time committed to promotign free, immediate, and unrestricted access to scholarly research and knowledge 🌐 Today, we are highlighting Getty's Quire title, "The Scores Project: Essays on Experimental Notation in Music, Art, Poetry, and Dance, 1950–1975"! 🎶🎵🎹 This beautifully rendered and boundary pushing publication explores the art of individuals working in and across the fields of visual art, music, poetry, theater, and dance in the mid–twentieth century, who began to use experimental scores in ways that revolutionized artistic practice and opened up new forms of interdisciplinary collaboration. Read the full text here: getty.edu/publications/score…

📚 Happy School Librarian Day! 📚 Today we celebrate the school librarians who make reading feel like magic!✨ Mark the occasion by reading "The Traveling Camera: Lewis Hine and the Fight to End Child Labor", by school librarian and author Alexandra S. D. Hinrichs! 📖 This marvelously illustrated and poetically written book tell the inspiring story of Lewis Hine (1874–1940), a teacher and photographer who employed his art as a tool for social reform. Working for the National Child Labor Committee, Hine traveled the United States, taking pictures of children as young as five toiling under dangerous conditions in cotton mills, seafood canneries, farms, and coal mines. Learn more here: shop.getty.edu/products/the-…

🏺🔎 It's International Archaeology Day! 🏺🔎 Celebrate by reading "The Kingdom of Pylos: Warrior-Princes of Mycenaean Greece"! Ancient Pylos has long captivated travelers, archaeologists, and historians familiar with Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey and his account of King Nestor, the prudent elder counselor in the Trojan War. Excavations begun in 1939 unearthed the storied Palace of Nestor in Messenia, an epicenter of Mycenaean civilization. "The Kingdom of Pylos" features spectacular arts and crafts, many recently excavated at sites across Messenia, including goldwork of unparalleled artistry, masterfully carved sealstones, weapons, and wall paintings. With over 300 illustrations, this is the first major publication in English to reconstruct the society of Pylos and settlements in its orbit during the Late Bronze Age (1700–1070 BCE). Learn more here: shop.getty.edu/products/the-…

🎧 Today is International Podcast Day! 🎧 Whether you're stuck in traffic, cleaning your apartment, or going for a long walk, podcasts are the perfect companion. 🎧📱 Check out the Getty podcast OMMM: Our Museum Mindfulness Meditation, hosted by author of Activity-Based Teaching in the Art Museum: Movement, Embodiment, Emotion, Lilit Sadoyan! getty.edu/podcasts/ommm/pati…

🎉 Happy Publication Day to Provenance Research for Mediterranean Antiquities: Methods and Resources! 🎉 The first of its kind, this 🌐open-access🌐 book is a comprehensive overview of methods and resources for researching the provenance of Mediterranean (Greek, Roman, and Etruscan) antiquities.🏺🏛 Building upon a decade-long review of the Getty Museum’s antiquities collection, it draws together instructive case studies, legal perspectives, and practical experience to provide an efficient reference for museum professionals, scholars, collectors, and students. The free online edition of this open-access publication is available at getty.edu/publications/prove… and includes zoomable illustrations. Also available are free PDF and EPUB downloads of the book. 📖

🎈🎊 Happy Birthday Carvaggio! 🎈🎊 The most notorious Italian painter of his day, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571–1610) forever altered the course of Western painting with his artistic ingenuity and audacity. 🎨🖌 📖The Lives of Caravaggio presents the most important early biographies of his life: an account by his doctor, Giulio Mancini; another by one of his artistic rivals, Giovanni Baglione; and a later profile by Giovanni Pietro Bellori that demonstrates how Caravaggio’s impact was felt in 17th century Italy. Together, these accounts have provided almost everything that is known of this enigmatic figure. Learn more here: shop.getty.edu/products/live…

Happy Publication Day to Getty Research Journal, No. 21! 📘📑 The journal presents peer-reviewed articles on the visual arts of all cultures, regions, and time periods, relating to Getty collections & initiatives. In Volume 21, discover the fascinating story of an ancient Roman mosaic of a peacock, acquired by J. Paul Getty himself via telephone! 🏺📞 Learn more here: getty.edu/publications/getty…

🍂FALL into a new book this autumn!🍂 Whether your interested in the architectural wonder of Paul R. Williams, the radical reinvention of painting with Mary Cassatt, or the explosive world of unusual tools in contemporary art, we've got you covered! Learn more here: shop.getty.edu/products/i-am…

✨It's the start of Hispanic Heritage Month!✨ This month we will celebrate the richness and diversity of Hispanic culture by highlighting books that speak to the Hispanic experience. 📖 This week, we'll take a look at Instante/revelación: Moments in Mexican Photography. This bilingual volume spotlights the work of thirteen renowned photographers who feature prominently in the history of the medium in Mexico, including Lola and Manuel Álvarez Bravo, Graciela Iturbide, and Pablo Ortiz Monasterio. Learn more here: shop.getty.edu/products/inst…

Tired of doomscrolling? 📵📵📵 Celebrate National Read a Book Day instead! 📖 Getty Publications has you covered for all your end-of-summer reading needs! ☀📚 Learn more here: shop.getty.edu/collections/b…

🎉Happy Publication Day to The J. Paul Getty Museum Handbook of the Collection!🎉 This new edition of The J. Paul Getty Museum Handbook of the Collection features over 380 of the museum’s most-beloved objects, presenting an overview of Getty’s world-renowned collection and a history of the museum and its famous founder. 🎨🖌 From treasures of the ancient world and medieval manuscripts to Renaissance drawings, French furniture, Impressionist paintings, iconic American photographs, and much more, the handbook offers an indispensable look at the art at both the Getty Villa in Malibu and the Getty Center in Brentwood. 🏛🏛🏛 Whether a regular visitor to the two sites or someone who hasn’t yet made the trip, this richly illustrated and beautifully designed volume is a must-have for any art lover. 💖 Learn more here: shop.getty.edu/products/the-…

Happy Birthday to the legendary fashion photographer, Herb Ritts! In "Herb Ritts: L.A. Style", Paul Martineau and James Crump trace the life and career of the iconic photographer through a compelling selection of renowned, as well as previously unpublished, photographs. Herb Ritts (1952–2002) was a Los Angeles-based photographer who established an international reputation, sought out by leading fashion designers such as Armani, Gianfranco Ferrè, Donna Karan, Calvin Klein, Valentino, and Versace, as well as magazine editors from GQ, Interview, Rolling Stone, and Vanity Fair, among others. Learn more here: shop.getty.edu/products/herb…

Happy Calligraphy Day! Admire the gorgeous work of master calligrapher Georg Bocskay in "Mira Calligraphiae Monumenta: A Sixteenth-Century Calligraphic Manuscript" In 1561–62 Bocskay, imperial secretary to the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I, created Mira calligraphiae monumenta (Model Book of Calligraphy) as a demonstration of his own preeminence among scribes. Learn more here: shop.getty.edu/products/mira…

Happy Pub Day to "Rock Art: The Changing Landscape of Conservation and Management"! This richly illustrated volume is the first interdisciplinary anthology to focus on the conservation and management of rock art sites. Painted and engraved marks and images on rock surfaces represent the oldest and most widespread form of human expression. Found globally in its original landscapes, with some images dating back fifty thousand years or more, the world’s rock art constitutes the most important body of latent knowledge about our deep past. Today, however, mass tourism, vandalism, theft, land development, and climate change are posing increasingly dire threats to this irreplaceable heritage. Learn more here: shop.getty.edu/products/rock…

Happy Summer! It's time for the annual Getty Publications Summer Sale! Stock up on summer reading with 50% off selected Getty books. Discover acclaimed titles on Julia Margaret Cameron, the Sistine Chapel, Harald Szeemann, the ancient lands of Thrace, French tapestries, Paul Cézanne, modern metals, and much more. Shop the sale through August 30, 2026 while supplies last. shop.getty.edu/collections/g…

Happy Publication to "Artifacts to Art: Collecting Ancient America in Midcentury L.A."! By the mid-twentieth century, ancient Mexican artifacts had undergone a striking transformation. Once dismissed as anthropological curiosities they had become prized artworks. At the center of this shift was Earl Stendahl, a savvy Los Angeles art dealer who played a pivotal role in shaping public and institutional perceptions of these objects. He repositioned these artifacts, selling them to an elite clientele that included movie stars, wealthy collectors, and museum curators. Beneath this glamorous facade, however, lies a darker narrative of the looting, smuggling, and forgery that fueled this midcentury craze. This book brings together art history, museum studies, and the politics of the antiquities trade, offering both a social history and a critical examination of how ancient Mexico’s past was sold in twentieth-century America. Learn more here: shop.getty.edu/products/arti…

Happy Birthday Mario Giacomelli! Known best for his sublime black-and-white photography, Mario Giacomelli's images are meditations on time, memory, and existence. In "Mario Giacomelli: Figure/Ground", author Virginia Heckert provides an overview of Giacomelli's illustrious career. Beautifully illustrated, the book explores his preference for grainy, high-contrast film and paper, which produced bold, geometric compositions with glowing whites and deep blacks. Learn more here: shop.getty.edu/products/mari… Image credit: Mario Giacomelli Young Priests, No. 71 (Pretini, no. 71) Negative 1961–63; print 1981 © Rita and Simone Giacomelli J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, Gift of Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser

Happy Publication Day to "Black Curators Matter: Conversations on Art and Change"! Named one of Hyperallergic's "15 Art Books We're Excited to Read in 2026", this volume gives an illuminating history of the historically fraught and hard-won relationship between Black Americans and U.S. art museums. In the late 1960s, the Black Emergency Cultural Coalition and other groups organized protests at major art museums, calling for the inclusion of Black artists and curators. "Black Curators Matter" presents conversations between six pioneering curators—Lowery Stokes Sims, Deborah Willis, Richard J. Powell, Kellie Jones, Thelma Golden, and Franklin Sirmans—and a new generation of professionals, including Ashley James, Kalia Brooks, Aaron Bryant, Thomas Jean Lax, Rujeko Hockley, and LeRonn P. Brooks. Capturing the voices and experiences of Black curators, these discussions highlight their achievements and provide guidance for future generations aiming to diversify and enrich the cultural landscape. This volume reexamines the curatorial field to reveal the transformative strategies, critical interventions, and boundary-breaking exhibitions that reshaped American art museums toward greater inclusivity and experimentation. Learn more here: shop.getty.edu/products/blac…

🌊✨ Happy World Oceans Day! ✨🌊 Today we celebrate the wonder of our oceans—and the pioneers who helped us see their beauty in new ways, like Anna Atkins (1799–1871), featured in "Anna Atkins: Photographer, Naturalist, Innovator." Often considered the first female photographer, Atkins brought together art and science through her striking cyanotypes. In 1843, using sunlight and seaweed gathered along England’s shores, she created luminous blue prints that captured the delicate forms of marine life. These works became part of "Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions"—the first book ever illustrated with photographs. A naturalist with deep curiosity and creativity, Atkins defied the limitations of her time, transforming specimens of kelp and seaweed into images that seem to float like they’re still beneath the waves. Her work reminds us of the beauty, fragility, and importance of ocean ecosystems. 🌱💙 Learn more here: gty.art/4u7KDqc Image: Laurencia pinnatifida from Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions (Vol. I) by Anna Atkins, 1846–47. Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum, 84. XA.1107.6 #WorldOceansDay #AnnaAtkins #GettyPublications #OceanInspiration