Harold Williams and the Getty

There are many perfectly valid criticisms one can make of various decisions Harold Williams made during the 17 years he presided over the Getty as chief executive (“Art for Architecture’s Sake,” by Nicolai Ouroussoff, March 31).

The site and the architect are certainly both fair game. But Ouroussoff’s assertion that “Williams also led the fight to transform the complex into a complex of art-related activities, relegating its collections to secondary status” is simply ludicrous. First, there was no fight: Williams presented his recommendations in 1982, and the board accepted them. Second, when Williams assumed the reins, the J. Paul Getty Museum had three collections: a highly regarded collection of French decorative arts, a good collection of Greek and Roman antiquities, and a paintings collection that was a laughingstock.

By the time he retired, there were four new departments; two of them, the manuscripts and photography collections, are considered to be among the finest in the country. The once pitiable paintings collection grew to be more than respectable, with the addition of literally dozens of first-rate works by major artists--Mantegna, Pontormo, Fra Bartolommeo, Correggio, Brueghel, Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Cezanne, Monet, Ensor, among many others. Ouroussoff may find the Getty’s collections disappointing--it has plenty of shortcomings, to be sure--but not because Harold Williams was anything other than fully committed to making them as good as they could be.

WILLIAM HACKMAN

Los Angeles

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Ouroussoff might have included the Beyler in Basel, Switzerland, not for any grandiose architectural qualities, but for its attention to the environment. Its collection of 20th century art is housed under a roof that not only regulates light admission, but also controls fluctuating temperatures at the gallery ceiling.

This building and other environmentally sound architecture is the subject of an exhibition titled “Ten Shades of Green,” showing through June 30 at the Orange County Museum of Art in Newport Beach.

T.W. STAPLE

Newport Beach