Tribune arts critic Alan Artner is the go-to guy on James Wood, and when the former head of the Art Institute of Chicago was named president of the J. Paul Getty Trust last week, Artner’s the one major newspapers turned to. The New York Times quoted from Artner’s 2004 evaluation of the Art Institute, written when Wood retired after 25 years there: “Long the home of outstanding collections, the place now speaks of integrity where once it was caprice.” And the Los Angeles Times, the Getty’s hometown paper, interviewed Artner on Wood’s Chicago years.
Who didn’t go to Artner? His own paper. The Tribune picked up the LA story but chopped off the part where Artner was.