Keep the Getty Intact

My wife and I have just spent a few delightful hours at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Malibu. We never tire of this beautiful oasis: The handsome gardens; the carefully crafted replica of a Pompeian villa; the fine collections of antiquities, drawings, paintings, manuscripts, decorative arts, photographs and sculpture--all in a setting of absolute splendor overlooking the blue Pacific. Knowing that Mr. Getty imported the finest artisans and materials to build this great museum adds to our pleasure.

Which makes it all the sadder to contemplate that, in a few years, this incomparable museum will be stripped of everything but its antiquities. Everything else will be removed to the newer Brentwood venue. Is nothing sacred to Harold Williams and his board? When we consider the painstaking planning and execution by Mr. Getty and those he entrusted to carry out his wishes, it’s enough to make us cry. J. Paul himself, buried on a nearby hillside, surely must be doing a few turns in his grave. Bigger doesn’t necessarily mean better, Mr. Williams.

JERRY COWLE

Pacific Palisades