Curator explains

As a curator at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the curator in charge of the exhibition “Jacob van Ruisdael: Master of Landscape” mentioned in Holly Myers’ article [“A Museum Has Lost Its Muses,” July 6], I feel compelled to challenge her myopic understanding of how museums work.

Like theatrical or operatic productions, exhibitions are huge enterprises that can only be the result of collaboration between institutions. Does Myers find it objectionable that a production of “La Traviata” in Los Angeles originated in Sydney or Frankfurt? Myers’ logic is indeed twisted: If museums were to rely solely on their curators to produce exhibitions, our programs would be severely impoverished. She also ignores the work that goes on behind the scene. In the case of the Ruisdael exhibition, for instance, choices of paintings, negotiations for loans and conservation were conducted equally by the three institutions that pooled their resources to make the exhibition possible: LACMA, the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Royal Academy in London.

I can assure Myers that the muses have not abandoned our museum and that they, rather than uninformed critics, were -- as always -- inspiring us as we were preparing this exhibition.

J. Patrice Marandel

Los Angeles