Former Getty Director Stephen Garrett, Who Turned the California Museum Into an International Powerhouse, Has Died at 96

Stephen Garrett, the first
director of the Getty in Los Angeles, died on December 2 at age 96.
Garrett helped transform J. Paul Getty’s pet project museum, which
the billionaire originally operated out of his own home, into what
is now arguably the wealthiest art museum in the world. He
is survived by four children and
his longtime partner, Phyllis Nugent. 

Originally hailing from Ashtead,
England, where he was born in 1922, Garrett graduated with a degree
in architecture from Cambridge University in 1950 after serving in
the British Royal Navy during World War II. Following his studies,
he opened a private architectural practice in London, where he
belonged to the Royal Institute of British Architects.

In the early 1970s, Getty
recruited Garrett to serve as the consultant architect on what the
billionaire envisioned as his grand new project, to be titled “the
Getty Villa.” The new building would sit on his personal property
in Malibu, and would be constructed for the collection that was
rapidly outgrowing his namesake ranch-house venue. 

“I’ve always had an idea at the
back of my mind that this little museum might some day belong to
the nation,” Getty wrote in 1953. It was Stephen Garrett who would
bring that vision to fruition, beginning with the design of the
Ancient Roman-inspired Getty Villa, which opened in 1974. Soon
after its unveiling—in which the elaborate building received
divided reviews from critics—Garrett was appointed Deputy Director
of the museum. 

Though Getty spent extended
periods in the United Kingdom, he remained actively involved in
daily museum operations, making acquisition of art objects a
priority, and taking care to personally approve each acquisition
himself. Upon the philanthropist’s death in 1976, Garrett was named
director. As Getty’s successor, he upheld his former boss’s legacy
by focusing on acquisitions and scholarly endeavours, with the
ultimate goal of “creating an art institute.”

In June 1977, Garrett laid out a
proposal to the board of trustees which stressed the importance of
acquisitions, suggesting that the Getty expand into Old Master
drawings in addition to antiquities. Understanding that his
rigorous plan to grow the collection would require more space, he
recommended moving a portion of the Getty to a new site in Los
Angeles, and allocating the Villa solely for
antiquities. 

Moreover, Garrett emphasized the
role of conservation within the Getty’s expansion as an
institution, telling the board that it was “an area where I think
we should make a major development.” He advocated for new
laboratories and education spaces to train conservators in various
disciplines, both of which are now central to the mission of
today’s Getty, with four museum conservation departments and the
Getty Institute for Conservation. 

Garrett held the directorship
until 1984, when he became director of the Long Beach Museum of Art
in California.

Timothy Potts, current J. Paul
Getty Museum director, said in a statement that Garrett “will
always have an important place in the Getty’s history and will be
much missed by all who knew him and remember so well his expansive
personality and wonderful sense of humor.”

The post Former Getty Director Stephen Garrett, Who Turned
the California Museum Into an International Powerhouse, Has Died at
96 appeared first on artnet News.