BOTH FAMILY AND CENTER HAVE TROUBLED HISTORY.

Byline: Tony Castro

Staff Writer

They are among Los Angeles' most private heirs to one of the world's greatest fortunes, and their name lives on in one of Los Angeles' most iconic landmarks.

But much as the Getty Center has endured troubles, Aileen and Paul Getty have even greater misfortune. Paul Getty, the grandson of J. Paul Getty, lost an ear to Italian kidnappers at 16, and a stroke at 25 left him blind and paralyzed.

Sister Aileen became HIV-positive in 1984, and developed full-blown AIDS in 1990.

"They are a very wounded family," says Teo Davis, alluding to tragic fates that mirror the troubled history that befell one of the world's most storied but dysfunctional families.

"And it is a legacy of a wounded family," says Davis, a Hollywood writer who has known the family for more than 30 years, "that seems to live on in the Getty Center."

While supporters continue to hail the center and say its future is bright, others note the toll that years of turmoil, including financial improprieties and alleged antiquities looting, have rocked the J. Paul Getty Trust and its art jewel center.

"I think it has definitely stained their record," said Los Angeles architectural critic Leon Whiteson.

"In the administration, you had the president of the board acting as if he were the reincarnation of J. Paul Getty, and that led to a lot of corruption."

But that has dramatically changed with the Getty's appointment of Jim Wood, a renowned art expert and former director of the Art Institute of Chicago.

"I knew that the Getty had gone through a very difficult period," says Wood, who officially took over as president and chief executive officer of the trust in February.

"When I was approached by the (Getty) board, we had some very candid discussions about where Getty was, where they thought it was going, that the Getty was dealing with its problems."

Nevertheless, the past scandals have led to the ongoing prosecution abroad of former Getty Museum antiquities curator Marion True on theft charges, the forced resignation last year of former Getty Trust head Barry Munitz over lavish personal spending of Getty money, and an investigation by the California Attorney General's Office.

And within the Getty itself, say present and former employees and others close to the museum, Munitz's administration created discontent and morale problems.

"The people at the top had been spoiled rotten by money," says Joseph Mailander, a longtime observer of the city's arts and cultural world. "No one (who worked) at the Getty really liked (Munitz.) The rank-and-file employees couldn't have been happier that he finally got caught."

Munitz, president of the Getty Trust since 1997, came under fire two years ago after it was found that he had spent Getty funds on first-class international travel with his wife, approved grants to friends and associates, and lobbied for a raise while he ordered budget cuts and layoffs.

The uproar triggered an investigation by the state attorney general into whether Munitz's actions compromised the Getty's nonprofit status. And that was compounded by the antiquities-theft allegations and charges against True.

Both True and the Getty deny any wrongdoing.

In November, a Greek criminal court dismissed charges against True for her role in the purchase of an illegally excavated golden funeral wreath. Still pending is an investigation of several artifacts of lesser value found in True's Greek vacation home. In Rome, True remains on trial for allegedly trafficking in antiquities looted from Italy.

True resigned after published reports revealed she obtained a personal loan with help from one of the Getty's suppliers to buy a Greek villa. The Getty said she violated museum ethics policies.

But Getty officials bristle at the thought that the recent scandals could tarnish the center's reputation.

They say the Munitz problem was a "governance" issue that the Getty Trust board dealt with swiftly and effectively.

Getty spokesman Ron Hartwig said that in addition to appointing Wood to succeed Munitz, the center's board instituted 25 policy procedures to guard against future financial abuse.

It also has been complying with an administrative oversight agreement imposed by the state Attorney General's Office, he said.

Hartwig said the Getty has returned dozens of items to Greece and Italy, is negotiating the return of other art in question and has never knowingly acquired looted art.

"Some people may hold that against the Getty, but they shouldn't.

"They moved to rectify those issues quickly -- quicker than most institutions do to correct their problems," says longtime Los Angeles art collector and patron Patricia Casado.

Or as perhaps the city's biggest individual art collector and patron, billionaire philanthropist Eli Broad, put it in talking about both the Getty Center and the Getty Villa in Malibu:

"Clearly, both Gettys are among the crown jewels of visual arts institutions in Los Angeles that make it one of the four great cultural capitals of the world along with New York, London and Paris."

Broad believes the Getty has made valuable contributions in working with other museums and elevating art in the city.

A major exhibition of art in Los Angeles through the 1970s and 1980s is currently being planned for 2009 involving the Getty and three other local museums.

The Getty also has undertaken the restoration and development next year of a long-dormant video art project originated by the Long Beach Museum of Art.

Still, today, at age 10, the Getty Center is, in a sense, like another troubled child of the late oil billionaire.

"It seems in many ways that this is an institution that is moving from adolescence to young adulthood," says Wood, who took over the reins as head of the Getty in February.

"I'm not saying this to excuse things in the past, but we all, as individuals or institutions, make mistakes, particularly in our youth.

"And then the question is, do we learn from those mistakes and in effect, move ahead wiser and more able to deal with a complex world."

tony.castro(at)dailynews.com

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