The Getty

This guide to The Getty in Los Angeles centers on a marble kouros statue the museum bought for nearly ten million dollars in 1985, over the objections of a board member who called it fake and resigned. It follows the paper trail of ownership letters investigators later picked apart, and the 1992 gathering of a hundred thirty scholars and scientists in Athens who argued for days over the statue's crystal structure and mismatched style without reaching agreement. Listen for how the debate over one Greek youth carved centuries ago still shapes how you look at the wing around you.