Lebbeus Woods drawing collections are acquired by the Getty Research Institute

2020-01-17T16:09:00-05:00

The Getty Research Institute (GRI) in Los Angeles has acquired two collections of drawings and sketches by visionary architect Lebbeus Woods.

Woods passed away in 2012 after a long career as a radical, inventive architectural designer who created thousands of fantastical visions for foreboding futuristic architectures. The GRI has acquired 46 drawings from Woods's A-City and 4 Cities and Beyond projects. The two speculative works offer beguiling pen and ink as well as color pencil visions for futuristic settlements that appear idyllic and tragic all at once.

Selection from the Los Angeles sketchbook, Lebbeus Woods, 1986–1988. Getty Research Institute, 2018.M.25. Gift of The Woods Edge Partnership. © Estate of Lebbeus Woods

Woods was born in Lansing, Michigan and worked at Eero Saarinen and Associates under Kevin Roche before launching his own independent, speculative practice in the 1970s. Woods also taught around the world, including at the Cooper Union in New York City. Woods's p...

Frank Gehry Awarded Getty Medal For "Changing the Course of Architecture"

2015-05-21T17:21:00-04:00

Gehry becomes the first designer or artist to win the award that the Getty launched in 2013. The prize – a bronze medal with a profile portrait of J. Paul Getty – recognizes lifetime contributions in various art-related fields that are part of the Getty’s mission, including philanthropy, art-history research, archeology and conservation of art and architecture, as well as art-making.

Frank Gehry can now add the Getty Medal to his collection of esteemed prizes, including the Pritzker, the Order of Canada, and the AIA Gold Medal. The Getty Trust announced the awarding of the medal to Gehry, with an official dinner to follow on September 28, 2015. The award seems fitting for a man who, while he has never been comfortable calling himself an artist, last year stated that "I don't beg for work. I don't have publicists. I'm not waiting for people to call me. I work with clients who have respect for the art of architecture."

As J. Paul Getty Trust President and CEO James Cuno noted, "There have been very few individuals in all of history who have changed the course of architecture, and Frank is one of them. He effectively reinvented architecture with his use of new technologies in the design of beautiful and iconic buildings. And architecture will never be the same as a result.”

Archinect - News

Lebbeus Woods drawing collections are acquired by the Getty Research Institute

Frank Gehry Awarded Getty Medal For "Changing the Course of Architecture"