Episode 33: John Walsh

The J. Paul Getty Museum, the world’s wealthiest, was shaped under the steady hand of Dr. John Walsh, a renowned scholar of Dutch art. In this episode we glean a bit about his work as a curator and director, and dive into topical matters: Museums during the pandemic, commercialization of exhibitions, his role as a witness defending Cincinnati’s Contemporary Arts Center’s exhibition of photographs by Robert Mapplethorpe and its then director at a trial accusing them of promoting obscenity, decades-long neglect of advancing racial equity in museums, due diligence when researching antiquities collections, advice for new directors, and a brief preview of his forthcoming lectures on Rembrandt.