From 1983 through 1997, artist Joe Deal documented the site and construction of the Getty Centre through a series of black-and-white photographs. The Getty Centre - Photographs by Joe Deal presents 130 of Deal's photographs, providing a chronicle of the building of Los Angeles's remarkable complex from the selection of the starkly beautiful chaparral-covered mountain top to the steel and travertine of the final stages of construction. Joe Deal's photographs have appeared in numerous exhibitions throughout the United States and Europe. A major exhibition of his work was held in Spring 1992 at the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery; it was accompanied by a book, Joe Deal: Southern California Photographs 1976-86. His photographs are in major collections throughout the United States, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the National Museum of American Art, Washington, DC; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Since 1989 Mr. Deal has served as dean of the School of Art at Washington University in St. Louis. Mark Johnstone, public art administrator of the Department of Cultural Affairs of the City of Los Angeles, has written an introduction to this book in which he provides both a key to understanding Joe Deal's unique vision and commentaries on the thematic groups and individual photographs reproduced.