Acting Getty Museum director David Bomford is leaving

David Bomford, who has been acting director of the Getty Museum since the 2010 departure of former director Michael Brand, will leave the Getty and return to London, where he will "pursue research, scholarship and writing," according to James Cuno, president and chief executive of the J. Paul Getty Trust.

Bomford, who joined the Getty in 2007 as associate director for collections, will leave Feb. 1. A Getty spokesman said Tuesday that the search for a permanent director of the museum is proceeding. Until that job is filled, Cuno will serve as the museum director.

For more developments, check back with Culture Monster.

-- Kelly Scott

Above: David Bomford, center, talks in December 2010 with Karol Wight, then a senior curator at the Getty, and Sebastiano Missineo, culture minister for Sicily, as they look at the Agrigento Youth. The statue was then on loan to the Getty in a cultural exchange. Credit: Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times