The Getty Center, Los Angeles
January 2020
January 21–May 31, 2020 The J. Paul Getty Museum presents In Focus: Platinum Photographs, featuring more than two dozen striking prints made with platinum and palladium photographic process. Drawn from the museum’s collection, the exhibition explores the wide variety of visual characteristics that have come to define the allure and beauty of this medium, which include a velvety matte surface, wide tonal range, and neutral palette. Introduced in 1873 by scientist William Willis Jr., the use of platinum was quickly embraced by both professional and amateur photographers alike and helped to establish photography as a fine art. With the price of metal soaring, the popularity of platinum paper declined in the years leading up to the First World War. The scarcity of materials and eventual shifting aesthetic preferences led many photographers to abandon the process in favor of gelatin silver prints. Interest in the process was renewed, however, in the mid-20th century, and a relatively small, but dedicated number of photographers continue to use the process today. More recent examples include a double portrait by artist Madoka Takagi featuring herself, arms crossed, and a shirtless man covered in tattoos, both gazing stoically into the camera’s lens; a suburban night scene by Scott B. Davis; and an experiment in abstraction by James Welling. Learn more at The Getty Center.