Torrid Affairs at the Getty Museum

Turner, 50 and married, began a love affair with his assistant, Kathleen Kibler, in 1996, two years after he arrived at the Getty from the British Museum to be curator of the department of drawings. When he tried to end the affair six months later, Kibler wouldn’t let him.

The legal complaint details a lurid series of scenes; she pleaded with him, telling Turner, “Everyone in the Getty has affairs,” citing Gribbon and Goldner, and she allegedly trapped Turner in his office and “got on her knees to embrace him.” When none of that worked, she threatened to destroy him and then, he alleged, falsely complained that he was sexually harassing her. Turner said that he asked Gribbon and personnel director Kris Kelly for help, and that they instead ordered him to give his ex-lover a favorable job review.

The museum settled, but in 2001 Turner filed another lawsuit, this time for fraud, over the Getty having breached a confidentiality settlement and harmed his career. The Getty in turn filed motions to keep Turner from discussing any of this, which the presiding arbitrator rejected.

None of this reflected well on the institution, which had proved itself time and again prepared to shove problems under the carpet rather than examine and deal with them. The museum had to settle yet again, for more money, and the catalogue was published in 2001, with the allegations of the forgeries reduced to footnotes.

Asked about the incident in 2008, the Getty’s spokesman, Ron Hartwig, declined to comment. “That’s water over the dam,” he said.

Excerpted from “Loot: The Battle Over the Stolen Treasures of the Ancient World,” by Sharon Waxman. Times Books.

More information: www.lootbook.com.