Getty Museum taps SF curator to head photography department

The J. Paul Getty Museum has hired James A. Ganz as senior curator of photographs. In July, Ganz will leave his current position at San Francisco’s Legion of Honor, where he has served as curator of the Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts for 10 years.

The Getty Museum’s collection of photographs is known across the world for what Ganz, in a phone interview, termed its “tremendous depth and breadth and quality.” Begun in 1984 with the simultaneous acquisition of several of the best-known private collections in the U.S. and Europe, the collection has grown to 150,000 works and a gallery of 7,000 square feet.

In the top job, Ganz will oversee the work of six curators plus a large support staff.