Gestalt Xgo-'stalt, ge-'shtalt\ psychology Twentieth-century school of psychology that provided the foundation for the modem study of perception. The German term Gestalt, referring to how a thing has been “put together” ( gestellt ), is often translated as “pattern” or “configuration” in psychology. Its precepts, formulated as a reaction against the atomistic orientation of previous theories, emphasized that the whole of anything is different from the sum of its parts: organisms tend to perceive entire patterns or configu¬ rations rather than bits and pieces. The school emerged in Austria and Ger¬ many at the end of the 19th century and gained impetus through the works of Max Wertheimer, Wolfgang Kohler, and Kurt Koffka (1886-1941); its principles were later expanded by Kurt Lewin. A form of psychotherapy only loosely related to Gestalt principles and influenced by existentialism and phe¬ nomenology was developed by Frederick S. (Fritz) Peris (1893-1970) in the 1940s. Gestalt therapy directs the client toward appreciating the form, meaning, and value of his perceptions and actions.
Gestapo \go-'sta-po\ in full Geheime Staatspolizei (German: “Secret State Police”) Political police of Nazi Germany. It was created by Hermann Goring in 1933 from the political and espionage units of the Prussian police and by Heinrich Himmler from the police of the remaining German states. Himmler was given command in 1934. The Gestapo oper¬ ated without civil restraints, and its actions were not subject to judicial appeal. Thousands of Jews, leftists, intellectuals, trade unionists, politi¬ cal clergy, and homosexuals disappeared into concentration camps after being arrested by the Gestapo. In World War II the Gestapo suppressed partisan activities in the occupied territories, and a section of the Gestapo under Adolf Eichmann organized the deportation of Jews to the extermi¬ nation camps in Poland.
Gesualdo \ja-'swal-do\, Carlo, prince of Venosa (b. March 8, 1566, Venosa —d. Sept. 8, 1613, Naples) Italian composer. Nobly born, he was a passionate musical dilettante. In 1590 he had his first wife and her lover (a duke) murdered, which earned him great notoriety but no punishment. His later marriage to the duke of Ferrara’s niece made the cosmopolitan Ferrara court his second home. His steadily deepening mel¬ ancholia was reflected in his music, which included some 125 madrigals and about 75 sacred vocal works. His six books of madrigals were pub¬ lished between 1594 and 1611 in part-books and in 1613 in score. Those in the last two books are unusual for their dramatic exclamations, dis¬ continuous texture, and harmonic license. His extreme chromaticism and abrupt changes in tempo and dynamics, exaggerating such traits in the madrigals of his time, would have no rival until the 20th century.
get Jewish divorce document written in Aramaic and obtained from a rabbinic court. In Orthodox and Conservative Judaism it is the only valid way to end a marriage, though outside Israel a civil divorce is required first. In Reform Judaism a civil divorce suffices. To obtain a get, mutual consent of husband and wife is usually required, except in special cases such as apostasy, impotence, insanity, or refusal to cohabit.
George Gershwin, working on the score Porgy and Bess (1935).
PICTORIAL PARADE
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Gethsemane --> Ghana I 757
Gethsemane \geth-'se-ni3-ne\ Garden outside Jerusalem associated with the last hours of Jesus. According to Christian tradition, it is where Jesus prayed after the Last Supper and before his arrest and Crucifixion. The name Gethsemane originates from a Hebrew term meaning “oil press,” suggesting that the garden was a grove of olive trees. Though its exact location cannot be determined, Armenian, Greek, Latin, and Rus¬ sian churches have accepted an olive grove on the western slope of the Mount of Olives as the site.
Getty, J(ean) Paul (b. Dec. 15, 1892, Minneapolis, Minn., U.S.—d. June 6, 1976, Sutton Place, Surrey, Eng.) U.S. oil billionaire, reputed to be the richest man in the world at his death. The son of an oil million¬ aire, he began buying and selling oil leases in Oklahoma in 1913. He acquired Pacific Western Oil Corp. in 1932 and soon gained control of several independent oil companies. He renamed his oil concern Getty Oil Co. in 1956. His most lucrative venture was a 60-year oil concession in Saudi Arabia. His financial empire eventually encompassed some 200 enterprises. A zealous art collector, he founded the J. Paul Getty Museum near Malibu, Calif., in 1953.
Getty Museum, J. Paul Museum established by Jean Paul Getty to house his large collection of artworks, to which he continued to add. The original museum occupied a wing added to his ranch house in Malibu, Calif., U.S. His collections soon outgrew that location, and in 1974 they were moved to a new building in Malibu, a lavish re-creation of a Roman villa uncovered at Herculaneum. On Getty’s death the museum became the most richly endowed in the world. It now is housed in the Getty Cen¬ ter, a striking six-building complex in Los Angeles designed by Richard Meier, which opened with great publicity in 1997. Its collections include European paintings, sculpture, drawings, and decorative arts to 1900, illu¬ minated manuscripts, and photographs. Greek and Roman antiquities remain in the Malibu villa. The collections reflect Getty’s preference for paintings of the Renaissance and the Barcx^ue period and for French fur¬ niture.
Getty Trust, J. Paul Private operating foundation founded in 1953 by Jean Paul Getty to establish the J. Paul Getty Museum. Originally located in Malibu, Cal., it now occupies five buildings in the Getty Center in Los Angeles, each building housing one of the institutes it established when it diversified its activities in 1983. One institute develops computerized databases on art-historical information; the others support art restoration and conservation, interdisciplinary research in art history and the related humanities, art education, and training in museum management. The Getty Grants Program supports projects around the world involving the history and understanding of art and its conservation.
Gettysburg Town (pop., 2000: 7,490), southern Pennsylvania, U.S. The site of a momentous American Civil War battle (see Battle of Gettys¬ burg), the town and the surrounding area are now in Gettysburg National Military Park, which preserves 3,865 acres (1,564 hectares), including the battlefield. The Soldiers’ Monument in Gettysburg National Cemetery marks the spot where Pres. Abraham Lincoln delivered his Gettysburg Address. The site includes more than 1,200 Civil War monuments, mark¬ ers, and tablets.
Gettysburg Address (Nov. 19, 1863) Speech by Pres. Abraham Lin¬ coln at the dedication of a cemetery at Gettysburg, Pa., for those killed at the Battle of Gettysburg during the American Civil War. The main address was delivered by the renowned orator Edward Everett (1794- 1865) and lasted two hours. Lincoln’s brief speech, honouring the Union dead and the principles of democracy and equality they died for, lasted two minutes. Soon recognized as an extraordinary piece of prose poetry, it remains one of the most famous speeches ever delivered in the U.S.
Gettysburg, Battle of (July 1-3, 1863) Major engagement in the American Civil War at Gettysburg, Pa., regarded as the war’s turning point. After defeating Union forces at the Battle of Chancellorsville, Robert E. Lee decided to invade the North with 75,000 troops. When he learned that the Union’s Army of the Potomac had a new commander, George Meade, he led his own troops to Gettysburg, a strategic crossroads. On the first day of battle, Meade’s advance force under John Buford held the site until reinforcements arrived. On the second day, the Confederates attacked Union lines at Little Round Top, Cemetery Hill, Devil’s Den, the Wheat- field, and the Peach Orchard. On the third day, Lee sent 15,000 troops to assault Cemetery Ridge, held by 10,000 Union troops under Winfield S Hancock. A Confederate spearhead broke through the Union artillery defense but was stopped by a fierce Union counterattack on three sides.