Out-of-Bounds: Images in the Margins of Medieval Manuscripts Daily through November 8, 2009
North Pavilion, Plaza Level, Getty Center
"Part of the genius of medieval art lies in its unique ability to combine serious and profound images with playful and witty ones. In illuminated manuscripts, a primary artistic medium of the Middle Ages, scenes in the margins of a page often comment on the paintings illustrating the text in the center. As often as they expand on the narrative, they poke fun at the lofty themes and, more broadly, at human foibles. Out-of-Bounds: Images in the Margins of Medieval Manuscripts explores the margins of medieval books and explains its wealth of subject matter: children playing games, romantic pursuits, men battling fantastic creatures, and composite figures—half-human, half-beast—that wend their ways through the sinuous foliage of the painted borders."
