More on Getty tensions

Tuesday's L.A. Times story on the abrupt resignation of Getty Museum director Deborah Gribbon (reported by L.A. Observed yesterday morning) says she received a standing ovation when she announced the news to the museum staff. The story frames the resignation as the latest public sign of internal dissension over Getty Center priorities and the management of president Barry Munitz.

Reached by phone Monday, Gribbon would not specify why she was leaving but said, "Barry and I have differences on a range of things. They are real differences. I think this is a very important moment for the Getty. Perhaps to a fault, I believe in the good of the institution. I think it's better to resign than let differences become a distraction"....

Said Hugh Davies, director of the Museum of Contemporary Art in San Diego and past president of the Assn. of Art Museum Directors: "My chief concern is that Barry Munitz, who came to the Getty without any background or knowledge of museums or art history, is making moves that have enormous consequence for Los Angeles, for culture in Southern California and beyond. "I am very worried that there is a toxic atmosphere at the Getty, and I lay it at his door. This concerns a cultural legacy for all of us"....

"I've watched with great sadness as much of the great people who created the Getty Center and had such great ambitions for it have left in recent years," said Barbara Whitney, who in August resigned as the museum's associate director for administration and public affairs. "People have been talking for a long time about how bad things were at the Getty. I can only imagine how intolerable it must have become for her. Part of the reason why I left was that the place had become totally internally focused, with a lot of intrigue about who was in or out of favor, and, it seemed to me, that a huge number of really talented professionals were being wasted."

Some people quoted also praised Munitz's leadership.