James N. Wood had already retired and bought a house in Rhode Island when the phone call from California came. Would he be willing to serve as chief executive of the J. Paul Getty Trust in Los Angeles? Wood, 68, thought it over for a while, chatted with his wife and then said yes. So two years ago he moved his family to a small house atop one of the city? windy canyons and started a new life as head of the trust, the largest charitable foundation in Southern California and America? wealthiest arts institution. The former director of the Art Institute of Chicago arrived after a major scandal culminating in the resignation of his predecessor, Barry Munitz, who was forced out after reports of overspending and questionable management. But Wood now has to deal with a 27 percent drop in the institution? endowment ?from $6.4 billion in 2007 to $4.2 billion now ?as the trust? investments have lost their value as part of the wider market downturn. Last month, the Getty announced that it was slashing spending by 14 percent, including 205 jobs and programming cutbacks. Parking fees at the Getty Museum in Brentwood and the Getty Villa near Malibu were raised from $10 to $15. Wood agreed to a 6 percent cut of his $1.1 million salary. The Business Journal caught up with him in his lavish office at the Getty Center on a hill overlooking the San Diego (405) Freeway.
Question Why did you come out of retirement for this job?
Answer:
Art museums are in my blood. I had had a wonderful and fortunate career; first as a curator, then a director in St. Louis and finally, for 25 years, director of the Art Institute in Chicago. This call came out of the blue, and I felt that it was maybe the one job that I hadn? imagined. It also matched my experience. I knew that I could learn a tremendous amount, and that was very exciting.
Q: Had you ever been to Los Angeles before?
A:
I? never spent more than, say, three or four nights. It was always a quick visit. I always thought ?reat place to visit but I would never want to live there.?I had it exactly wrong. Until you live here, you can? begin to get into the rhythm and explore the horizontal immensity of this extraordinary place.
Q: What are your priorities?
A:
The initial challenge was to re-establish focus and integrity; focus on our mission and certainty that our governance was intact. Then, it was really about how to coordinate all these moving parts. The Getty really has four fundamental programs; the foundation, which gives very specifically in the visual arts; the research institute; the conservation institute, which saves and conserves classic works of art; and this remarkable museum with two campuses.
Q: Have you made progress?
A:
I think the institution? integrity is certainly re-established ?it? not something people are challenging or questioning all the time. The challenge now is to really make the most of the incredible opportunities the Getty presents. I like to say that one of the goals, I think, for the Getty is to have people spend more time looking at less. If the quality is very high, that can be a deeper and more rewarding experience than, say, trying to take in a vast collection in one day. It? really about quality and presentation and environment.
Q: Was it exciting when you started?
A:
I must say, very early on, one felt a tremendous sense of responsibility. I mean, the resources of this place ?you know about them from a distance. I had always known of the Getty and had colleagues here, but it? very different when you?e really spending time here in a position of authority.
Q: How is it different?
A:
The Getty is still an extraordinarily well-funded institution, and the really sobering part was realizing all the things that could be done. I had, over time, gotten quite good at asking for money. That, in a way, may be easier because you articulate exactly what you want to do and then you ask for the funds. When you have the resources beforehand, you have to set the standards and discipline yourself.
Q: What was your childhood like?
A:
I grew up just outside of Boston. It was a relatively traditional childhood; I spent quite a bit of time in the summers just outside Cape Cod near Plymouth.
Q: What sparked your interest in art?
A:
My parents were not great collectors, but they took great interest in what we lived with, particularly antique furniture. My father was quite knowledgeable: There were certain chairs that you looked at rather than sat in. My mother volunteered for years at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. But I never studied art history until college.
Q: What did you learn?
A:
A professor gave me an opportunity to spend a year in Italy, assigning a number of papers to write and saying that if I did well on them he? graduate me. So I bought a motorcycle and took off. It was like devouring Italy as an open-air museum. The experience changed my life.
Q: How so?
A:
It intensified my passion for original works of art and, I think, was essential to my moving towards museums as opposed to academia.
Q: Do you speak Italian?
A:
I struggle with it. I? not proficient, but I can get myself a good meal.
Q: What has been your biggest disappointment at the Getty?
A:
Arriving at a moment when the endowment and the market was at one of its peaks and the financial possibilities seemed almost endless, then immediately, on the heels of that, having to deal with a major drop in the market that affected our endowment. I think we?e done what we needed to do and now we need to move ahead, but I would have to list that as a major frustration.
Q: You announced layoffs, cutbacks and an increase in parking fees. Was that painful for you?
A:
Very painful. These are talented people, and it? not because of performance ?it? because salary is the dominant portion of our budget. At the same time that you?e reducing costs, though, you must be sure that you?e doing it strategically and with a clear set of priorities. We may be offering a little less in the future, but we are focusing on the most important areas to preserve and maintain. I think, though, that the Getty is really positioned now to move ahead and be confident that we?e living within our means.
Q: Will the increased cost of parking affect attendance?
A:
Parking is $10 now; starting in July, it will be $15. We?e not charging a fee for entrance but, of course, most people drive ?we?e very aware of that. How much you pay will depend on how many people are in the car; a single person driving is going to cost $15, and a family of four will cost $15. We want to be absolutely sure that we don? create a barrier that changes the demographics of our use because there? a remarkable range, socioeconomically, of people who come to the Getty.
Q: When you were appointed to this position, you said you weren? an administrator or a businessman, but were there to bring art into focus. Has that changed?
A:
No. My expertise and experience is running an art museum and being a curator. I don? have a background in investments. Obviously, I need to be able to manage budgets ?so sure, I can do that.
Q: What? your typical day like?
A:
It? not all that structured. I tend to get up early because, from about 6 to 8 a.m. is when I feel like my head is the clearest and I can organize and plan my day. I usually get in before 9 a.m. and certainly don? stay late.
Q: What do you do all day?
A:
You know, it? crazy. Thinking is a big part of it ?this is a job where you have to try to keep making sure that you have the overview in mind. It? got so many parts that you have to step back to make sure that you?e making the best effort to at least understand it. It involves meeting people. It? getting out. It? very important to make sure that you?e not just staying up on the hill.
Q: Do you work L.A.? celebrity circuit?
A:
My closest thing to the celebrity world is that people confuse my name with actor James Woods, whereupon they?e always disappointed. I have met some people in the industry, but that? really a world that doesn? have a direct overlap with the
Getty. Some of the most rewarding social contacts I?e had have been with artists and the whole range of professionals in the visual arts here.
Q: In terms of art museums, Los Angeles sometimes suffers by comparison to New York. Is that changing?
A:
Los Angeles, over the past 50 years, has been a major crucible for some of the most interesting and important cultural developments in the world; I? talking about the visual arts and the entertainment industry, but it goes way beyond that. Part of it may be geography and climate; New York is a great cosmopolitan city, but it looks to Europe. Our coasts look to Latin America and Asia, which affects the sense of place and the makeup of the population.
Q: And you find that interesting?
A:
Yes, very much. So many of the most interesting ideas are coming out of the comparison and interweaving of cultures. Los Angeles is a very dynamic place.
Q: How do you spend your spare time here?
A:
We live at the top of one of the canyons, and I can be up in the Santa Monica Mountains in 15 minutes. You can hike for miles, and that has been absolutely fabulous. It? beautiful up there, and you can quite quickly get into relatively remote areas. You get this extraordinary relationship with the mountains and the city and the ocean ?all you need is a pair of boots. This is also a city where it? fun just to get in the car and find something. It involves staying off the freeways. I? not sure there is any place in the world that has more small individualistic mom-and-pop things, whether it? food or different businesses. I find that very stimulating.
Q: How did you meet your wife?
A:
In a class on Buddhist architecture at the Institute of Fine Arts in New York City where we were both students. That was in 1963. We got married three years later while I had a Ford Foundation grant to study museums in Europe, so we spent the first nine months of our marriage in a Volkswagen.
Q: What do your daughters do?
A:
One is a high school English teacher in Providence, R.I.; the other a social worker in San Anselmo, Calif. They?e both extraordinary, doing wonderful, important work. They?e not going to get rich at it though.
Q: Do you like your job?
A:
Four out of five days, yes. The fifth day is when it? all numbers, or it? just trying to undo some managerial knot. The other four days involve interacting with people running the different areas of this institution and working with them to be sure that we?e setting the right goals and asking the right questions. That is invariably fascinating.
Q: Any thoughts of retiring again?
A:
I? 68 now. I want to do this for a period of time, and then the Getty will be ready to move on. This isn? a job you take to start a new career. At the same time, I want to focus on each day ?I? really trying not to look too far ahead. Retirement is a wonderful thing because you can do things in retirement that you couldn? otherwise do. I consider myself incredibly fortunate to have had this reincarnation. The people I? meeting and the things I? learning are wonderful. When I ultimately do retire, it will be a richer retirement because of all this behind me.
Q: How do you imagine spending those years?
A:
I won? be doing woodworking in the basement, though that seems like a great idea. When I retire again I have this fantasy of apprenticing myself to a good ceramicist to try my hand at throwing pots.
James N. Wood
TITLE: chief executive officer
BORN: 1941; Boston
ORGANIZATION: J. Paul Getty Trust
EDUCATION: B.A., Williams College, Williamstown, Mass.; M.A., Noble and
Greenough School, Dedham, Mass
CAREER TURNING POINT: Making jump from being curator to museum director
MOST INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE: Lane Faison, a professor at Williams College
PERSONAL: Married to painter and art
historian Emese Forizs; couple has two grown daughters
HOBBIES: Hiking, kayaking
