Michael Brand Resigns as Director of Getty Museum and VillaBy STAN PARCHIN
January 7, 2010
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| Dr. Michael Brand. Photograph courtesy of Virginia Museum of Fine Arts/Mike Curtin. |
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J. Paul Getty Museum Courtyard at Dusk. © 2003 J. Paul Getty Trust. |
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Etruscan. Chimaera of Arezzo (ca. 400 B.C.). Bronze. 78.5 x 129 cm (30.9 x 50.8 in.). Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Firenze. © Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici della Toscana. Photograph by Ferdinando Guerrini. |
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| Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577-1640). The Calydonian Boar Hunt (ca. 1611-12). Oil on panel. 59 x 90.2 cm (23.2 x 35.5 in.). J. Paul Getty Museum. |
The
J. Paul Getty Trust announced today that Dr. Michael Brand, a respected authority on Indian art and architecture, resigned as Director of the Getty Museum and Villa, effective January 31, 2010. Both parties are not bound by a non-disclosure agreement. Each declined respectfully to elaborate on details regarding Brand's decision to leave his high-profile position, a move the scholar reportedly deliberated upon since late last year. Brand is available for consultation through the end of this Summer. His responsibilities will be assumed by David Bomford, Associate Director for Collections, until a successor is named by a search committee to be formed shortly.
AccomplishmentsMichael Brand was the first director to run both the Getty Museum's Los Angeles and renovated Malibu campuses, the latter devoted almost exclusively to Greek and Roman art. He inherited leaderhip for a world-renowned institution mired in issues of antiquities repatriation. Brand ably settled disputes with the governments of Italy and Greece during his four-year tenure, a feat of international diplomacy for which he will forever be recognized and commended. Under his watchful eye, some 40 classical works of art, many mainstays of the Getty Villa, were dutifully returned to Italy after painstakingly thorough investigation of their
provenances or histories of ownership.
The personable Dr. Brand's efforts helped to foster a new era of cooperation amongst museums on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. His long-term arrangement with Florence, Italy's Museo Archaeologico Nazionale brought the
Chimaera of Arezzo (ca. 400 B.C.), a hallmark of Etruscan art, to the Getty Villa from July 16, 2009 to February 8, 2010.
Photography, Acquisitions and Special ExhibitionsUnder Michael Brand's aegis, the Getty Museum saw the opening of its Center for Photographs, the largest of its kind in the United States. It acquired major works of European art, including the
Northumberland Bestiary (12th Century),
The Calydonian Boar Hunt (ca. 1611-12) by Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) and
The Abduction of Europa (ca. 1645) by French artist Claude Lorrain (1604-1682). Among the international loan exhibitions mounted during Brand's tenure are
Holy Image, Hallowed Ground: Icons from Sinai (2006-07),
Bernini and the Birth of Baroque Portrait Sculpture (2008),
The Golden Graves of Ancient Vani (2009) and
Drawings by Rembrandt and His Pupils: Telling the Difference (2009-10). Other shows brought to the Getty Museum under his guidance include
Medieval Treasures from the Cleveland Museum of Art (2007-08) and
The Belles Heures of the Duke of Berry (2008-09), a selection of revered manuscript illuminations from The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Regarding his remarkable accomplishments, Michael Brand stated, “I am very proud of what I have been able to achieve as Director of the Getty Museum, especially the successful conclusion of negotiations with Italy and Greece, the establishment of new relationships with sister institutions in Mexico and opening up the museum’s exhibition program to non-Western and contemporary art. I am very pleased at how the Getty Museum has continued to mature into a highly innovative and respected art institution since my appointment in 2005."
Dr. Brand earned his B.A. from the Australian National University in Canberra and his M.A. and Ph.D. from Harvard University. The former Head of Asian Art at the National Gallery of Australia, he was the Assistant Director of Brisbane's Queensland Art Gallery from 1996 to 2000. As Chief Executive Officer of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts from 2000 to 2005, he successfully led the institution's $163 million capital campaign to fund its largest expansion.