Christopher Knight writes in today's LAT Calendar that the internal rancor at the Getty is a Big Deal and has prompted museum directors around the country to wonder just how bad things are on the gilded hill in Brentwood. President and CEO Barry Munitz's lack of an art background is said to be part of the strain; he has built a board of directors where only 3 of the 13 members are prominent in the art world, the rest from business and academia. Writes Knight:

To understand the extraordinary nature of Monday's news that the director of the J. Paul Getty Museum had quit, there's something you need to know about art museum directors: They are the most reticent, tight-lipped professionals imaginable. It is simply not in their DNA to speak publicly, on the record, about anything even slightly tainted by controversy. Better to say nothing than to say something that might alienate somebody, somewhere, who might be helpful to the always struggling art museum cause.

But they are speaking out now, mixing sorrow with anger. What they're saying is that the Getty is in trouble. I agree. And the reason, I believe, is mismanaged priorities at the Getty Trust...

For longtime museum watchers, this avalanche of public dismay from within the upper echelon of American art museum administration amounts to a stunning rebuke. It's the art world equivalent of a public slap-fight between Colin Powell and Dick Cheney in a Georgetown restaurant.

L.A. Observed broke the news of Deborah Gribbon's abrupt resignation and slam at Munitz on Monday morning. Today's New York Times says Gribbon's resignation came as no surprise [other than to the NYT, which got on the story two days late], citing her differences with Munitz. "It's a whole range of real differences, and they're important ones,'' Gribbon told the paper.

* Also today: Tyler Green, art critic for Bloomberg News based in Washington, blogs at ArtsJournal.com:

My email overfloweth. If I were a Getty boardmember, I would be on the phone to prominent, long-term ex-employees trying to learn whatever I can....

In three years of doing this site, no single issue has generated more email than Gribbon's ouster....Literally 100 percent of my email, from Getty staff and ex-staff, is running against Munitz. Nearly every emailer is saying morale is pitiful, Munitz' decisions regarding staff and dismissal have been caustic and destructive, and everyone knows that it's only going to get worse. There are more major stories about Munitz' tenure coming down the pike. From what I'm hearing, his board will not be able to ignore what's coming."

Green also posted earlier in the week about reaction to the Getty mess.

Previously:
More on Getty tensions