Two design museums are part of a $1.55 slate of grants from the Getty Foundation that was announced by the institution yesterday.

New York’s Cooper Hewitt and West Hollywood’s MAK Center for Art and Architecture were among the nineteen grant recipients on a list that included projects at museums across the world.

The grants were part of a Getty initiative called The Paper Project that focuses on elevating cultural institutions whose holdings in prints and drawings are integral parts of their permanent collection and public program. Other winners included an examination of German expressionist printmaking put on by the Rifkind Center at LACMA, a digital census of Italian woodcuts before 1550 at the Fondazione Giorgio Cini, and an exhibition at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum that will explore the global inspirations of Black Arts movement leader Betye Saar. 

The Cooper Hewitt was awarded $100,000 for its study of rare drawings and sketchbooks by Medici court artist Johannes Stradanus while the MAK was given $75,000 to help develop an exhibition of mechanical documents that grew in popularity between the 60s and 80s and are considered a hallmark of postwar studio culture as we enter even further into the digital age.

“Permanent collections that include prints and drawings are the lifeblood of museums, archives, and libraries,” said Heather MacDonald, a senior program officer at the Getty Foundation. “As the cultural sector moves into post-pandemic rebuilding, institutions have a tremendous opportunity to refocus on their own holdings while they also invest in the professional growth of their staff. These grants provide the resources needed to take a deep dive into seldom-seen collections and develop creative and relatable ways to display works on paper in galleries, in print, and also online.”