The sun sets at Michael Brand’s Getty Museum.
The LA Times‘ art critic, Christopher Knight, who has just posted his first take on the Getty management turmoil, ponders the deleterious effect on art museums of “revolving door” directorships.
Knight writes:
In the museum world, it takes at least two or three years [as director] just to begin to see a glimmer of the fruits of one’s labors….
[Michael] Brand has not been in place long enough to leave a major stamp on
the Getty Museum in terms of collection, exhibition history or staff.
That’s a shame. His successor’s job thus becomes even more important.At an art museum with the power to shape cultural perceptions on the
international stage, continuity matters. Getty President James Wood
knows that. He was director of the Art Institute of Chicago for 24
years.
Across the continent in New York, we too have experienced our share of revolving-door directorships (not to mention revolving-door architects)—at the Whitney Museum. In our case, though, there’s always been a plausible (if not necessarily complete) explanation for the dislocations.
Given its past history of scandal, the Getty’s refusal to give us even the slightest clue about what’s going on there can only give rise to rampant speculation, as well as a buzzing swarm of reporters trying to gather unattributed comments from secondary sources. If, as has been suggested by various writers (including me), there has been a professional disagreement between Michael Brand and James Wood, there should be a way for the Getty’s principals and/or spokespersons to discuss this tactfully and thoughtfully, without denigrating either side.
Reasonable people can (and sometimes do) disagree. Better to be forthcoming and forthright than to stonewall, stoking a media feeding frenzy. This is a public institution and at least a modicum of public accountability is called for—especially in light of the planned expenditure of significant institutional resources on the severance package of someone who has chosen to leave, at a time when many other employees were involuntarily terminated because of the Getty’s financial shorfalls.