Enlarge imageBy Jill Serjeant
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The Getty Villa, the Malibu antiquities showcase inspired by an oil billionaire’s love of ancient Rome, reopens on Saturday after an eight-year renovation -- and the timing could hardly be worse.
The long-awaited reopening of the spectacular ocean-side Villa, regarded as one of the cultural landmarks of Los Angeles, has been clouded by allegations that one of the world’s richest art institutions used its muscle to acquire looted artefacts.
After a $275 million face-lift and expansion, the Getty Villa now houses the J. Paul Getty Museum’s collection of some 44,000 antiquities. The Villa, modelled by oil baron J. Paul Getty on the first-century Roman Villa dei Papiri, also has a new mission as a centre for the study of the arts and cultures of ancient Rome, Greece and Etruria.
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Yet Marion True, the woman who spent 10 years planning the new showcase, was forced last year to quit her job as the Getty’s antiquities curator and is on trial in Italy.
The charges -- that True conspired to receive stolen goods -- have become a landmark case not just for the Getty but for the international art trade.
"The reopening comes at an unfortunate time for the Getty," said Kelly Devine Thomas, who has covered the True case for the respected international magazine ARTnews.
"It brings into focus the world-wide debate about who should be caring for these objects, how they got to these museums and the amount of money that American museums have paid to acquire objects that might not have been legally exported," she said.
True and the Getty have denied ever knowingly acquiring items looted from Italian archaeological sites but the Getty in November returned three of the disputed treasures to Italy.
The Italians are seeking the return of another three dozen or so disputed treasures and Greek authorities also want four antiquities from the Getty collection which they say were removed illegally from their country.
UNDER SCRUTINY
Some works under scrutiny, notably a towering limestone and marble statue of Aphrodite, grace the galleries of the revamped Villa, officials confirmed.
The Getty’s troubles appear to have had little effect on public enthusiasm for the reopening of the Villa, whose fountains and courtyards are an oasis of calm in bustling Los Angeles.
Admission is free, as it is at the mountaintop Getty Centre that opened a few miles away in 1997, but visitors need to book in advance and tickets are booked solidly until April.
"There is no denying that this has not been the best of years for the Getty," said Getty spokesman John Giurini. "But when people come to the Villa we have gotten incredibly wonderful feedback from people who think it is absolutely gorgeous. I think at a certain point people look past the current situation."
The Getty Villa has a new 450-seat outdoor arena, seismic underpinning, new windows, a new glass collection, extra parking and many upgrades largely invisible to most visitors. The New York Times called it "an exquisite work of architecture."
Saturday’s opening has none of the hoopla that marked the 1997 launch of the modernist Getty Centre, which houses European paintings including Vincent van Gogh’s "Irises".
"We got a lot of criticism for the opening of the Getty Centre and being flamboyant and so it was always our intention to open (the Villa) low-key. It has nothing to do with the situation we find ourselves in right now," said Giurini.
Tomb raiders have looted ancient sites in Italy and Greece for centuries. But Italy has conducted an aggressive campaign in the last 10 years to recover its heritage and has accused eight other U.S. museums, including New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts of owning stolen artefacts.
"It puts it all in a queasy context. Two or three years ago (the reopening) would have been a great trumpeted affair but in this context people are not sure whether to rejoice," said Devine Thomas.
Reuters/VNU
