Weston J. Naef

Weston Naef, Curator Emeritus, Department of Photographs, The J. Paul Getty Museum. Weston Naef received his B.A. from Claremont Men's College, his M.A. from Ohio State University and his Ph.D. (all but dissertation) from Brown University. Prior to his arrival at the Getty, he was for fifteen years curator in the department of prints and photographs at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In 1984 he was appointed curator of photographs at the J. Paul Getty Museum, the year the Department of Photographs was established. For twenty-five years he guided the growth of the Museum photographs collection, along with its exhibition and publication program. He is also the author of numerous publications, including The Collection of Alfred Stieglitz: Fifty Pioneers of Modern Photography, The J. Paul Getty Museum Handbook of the Photographs Collection, and Photographers of Genius at the Getty. He has recently completed the manuscript for a catalogue of all the mammoth plate photographs of Carleton Watkins, in collaboration with Christine Hult-Lewis. In progress is a documentary film planned for 2010 release, Forgotten Places Once Famous: Carleton Watkins in Southern California.