What do Einstein, Napoleon, Arnold Schoenberg & Billy Wilder Have in Common?

Last week I suffered an embarrassment of riches. If my arithmetic doesn't fail me, I attended ten exhibitions, in four different museums, in two cities. Four of these exhibitions were new, and had the traditional press opening, followed by a public reception. At this point I can see that you're rolling your eyes. Poor Edward. The suffering he must endure on a weekly basis.

Getty allow a visitor the pleasure of plunging into the romantic and turbulent currents of early and mid-19th Century European history. Even two hundred years after his death, Napoleon still remains for us the quintessentially romantic, larger than life historical figure. Jacque-Louis David, the most celebrated painter of his era, glorified the emperor in a series of spectacular portraits, including the famous 1801 Napoleon Crossing The Alps, showing the emperor perched dramatically on a rearing horse while calling his troops into battle. This is the first-ever exhibition of Jacque-Louis David in this country, and it smartly concentrates on the lesser-known, latter part of his career as a portraitist while living in exile in Brussels.

Roger Fenton, is the subject of another groundbreaking Getty exhibition. Trained as a painter and lawyer, Roger Fenton fell in love with the then-new medium of photography and devoted ten years of his life to it only to abruptly abandon it, being disillusioned by what he felt was the increasing commercialization of photography. Hmm...I wonder what he would say about it today.

I drove another mile up the 405 to the Skirball, which, since my visit there last year, has expanded yet again. Being a European transplant myself, I found the subject of the newest exhibition there is simply irresistible: European Jewish -migr-s in L.A. during the 30's and 40's. Among the usual suspects such as Billy Wilder and Arnold Shoenberg, are some lesser-known figures such as the collector The Kindness of Strangers is a must-read insider's look into the cultural life of early Hollywood.

Skirball exhibition about Einstein and the impact of his achievements both as a scientist and a humanitarian. Among rare documents and artifacts are his Nobel Prize medal, and the pages from his manuscript on the theory of relativity. But from a purely artistic point of view, the exhibition that caught my imagination was "Time/Space, Gravity and Light" that was organized as a compliment to the larger Einstein exhibition.

Jacque Louis David: Empire to Exile

Through April 24, 2005

J. Paul Getty Museum

All the Mighty World: The Photographs of Roger Fenton, 1852-1860

Through April 24, 2005

J. Paul Getty Museum

Driven Into Paradise: L.A.'s European Jewish Emigres of the 30's and 40's

Through May 8, 2005

Ruby Gallery at the Skirball Cultural Center

Einstein

Getty Gallery at the Skirball Cultural Center

Through May 29th, 2005

Time/Space Gravity & Light

Through February 27, 2005

Milken Gallery at the Skirball Cultural Center