Anne d'Harnoncourt
Encyclopedia
Anne d'Harnoncourt was an American museum director and historian of modern art. She was the Director and CEO
of the Philadelphia Museum of Art
, a post she held from 1982 until her sudden and unexpected death in 2008. She was an expert on the works of Marcel Duchamp
, who had been an acquaintance of her father René d'Harnoncourt
, the director of the Museum of Modern Art
in New York. She was a cousin of the conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt
. She is survived by her husband, Joseph Rishel, a senior curator at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
and his wife Sarah (née Carr), she was of Austrian, Czech, and French descent. Anne attended The Brearley School in New York City from 1949–1961. She continued her studies at Radcliffe College
in Cambridge, MA where she majored in History and Literature of Europe and England since 1740, with additional course work in the history of architecture. Her B.A. thesis compared the poetry of Shelley
and Hölderlin
. She graduated magna cum laude in 1965.
Anne’s first museum experience was at the Tate Gallery
, London where she worked for six months as part of an MA at the Courtauld Institute of Art
, preparing full catalogue entries on 30 Pre-Raphaelite paintings and drawings in the collection in 1966-67. She then came to the Philadelphia Museum of Art
as a Curatorial Assistant in the Department of Painting and Sculpture from 1967 through 1969. In 1969 she was hired as Assistant Curator of Twentieth-Century Art by the Art Institute of Chicago
, a position she held until 1971.
, Ellsworth Kelly
, Dan Flavin
, Sol LeWitt
, Brice Marden
, Agnes Martin
, Elizabeth Murray
, Claes Oldenburg
, Katherine Anne Porter
, Dorothea Rockburne
, James Rosenquist
, and Frank Stella
among others.
(2005) and surveys on topics ranging from Pennsylvania Germans: A Celebration of Their Arts (1983) to Japanese Design (1994), The Splendor of Eighteenth-Century Rome (2000) to Tesoros: The Arts in Latin America 1492–1820 (2006).
Each exhibition was accompanied by a groundbreaking catalogue, while other Museum publications under her leadership have included British Paintings in the Philadelphia Museum of Art (1986), Handbook of the Collections (1995), Gifts in Honor of the Museum’s 125th Anniversary (2002), and Italian Paintings 1250–1450 (2004).
Between 1992 and 1995, in a massive building project undertaken to reinstall all of the Museum’s European collections, over 90 galleries were renovated and relit, while thousands of works of art were examined, conserved and placed in fresh contexts. Twenty galleries for modern and contemporary art were renovated and reopened in the fall of 2000.
As part of the Long Range Plan, and in celebration of the Museum’s 125th anniversary year, a capital campaign with a goal of $200 million was formally launched in December 2000. Over $246 million was raised by the end of the campaign. In the same year, the Museum acquired a landmark building across the street and embarked on a comprehensive master plan for its use and the additional steps necessary to meet the Museum’s 25-year requirements for new or renovated space. The renovated structure, now named the Ruth and Raymond G. Perelman Building, opened in September 2007. It houses greatly expanded, state-of-the-art facilities for the Museum's collections of prints, drawings, and photographs, costumes and textiles, modern and contemporary design, and Library and Archives.
After her death in 2008, Cleveland Museum of Art
director Timothy Rub
was chosen as her successor.
's masterpiece, The Gross Clinic
, was not sold and taken away from its longtime place in Philadelphia.
Chief executive officer
A chief executive officer , managing director , Executive Director for non-profit organizations, or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer or administrator in charge of total management of an organization...
of the Philadelphia Museum of Art
Philadelphia Museum of Art
The Philadelphia Museum of Art is among the largest art museums in the United States. It is located at the west end of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia's Fairmount Park. The Museum was established in 1876 in conjunction with the Centennial Exposition of the same year...
, a post she held from 1982 until her sudden and unexpected death in 2008. She was an expert on the works of Marcel Duchamp
Marcel Duchamp
Marcel Duchamp was a French artist whose work is most often associated with the Dadaist and Surrealist movements. Considered by some to be one of the most important artists of the 20th century, Duchamp's output influenced the development of post-World War I Western art...
, who had been an acquaintance of her father René d'Harnoncourt
Rene d'Harnoncourt
Rene d'Harnoncourt was an art curator, and a Director of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, from 1949 to 1967....
, the director of the Museum of Modern Art
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...
in New York. She was a cousin of the conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt
Nikolaus Harnoncourt
Nikolaus Harnoncourt is an Austrian conductor, particularly known for his historically informed performances of music from the Classical era and earlier. Starting out as a classical cellist, he founded his own period instrument ensemble in the 1950s, and became a pioneer of the Early Music movement...
. She is survived by her husband, Joseph Rishel, a senior curator at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Early life and career
Anne Julie d’Harnoncourt was born on September 7, 1943 in Washington, D.C. The only child of René d'HarnoncourtRene d'Harnoncourt
Rene d'Harnoncourt was an art curator, and a Director of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, from 1949 to 1967....
and his wife Sarah (née Carr), she was of Austrian, Czech, and French descent. Anne attended The Brearley School in New York City from 1949–1961. She continued her studies at Radcliffe College
Radcliffe College
Radcliffe College was a women's liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and was the coordinate college for Harvard University. It was also one of the Seven Sisters colleges. Radcliffe College conferred joint Harvard-Radcliffe diplomas beginning in 1963 and a formal merger agreement with...
in Cambridge, MA where she majored in History and Literature of Europe and England since 1740, with additional course work in the history of architecture. Her B.A. thesis compared the poetry of Shelley
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Percy Bysshe Shelley was one of the major English Romantic poets and is critically regarded as among the finest lyric poets in the English language. Shelley was famous for his association with John Keats and Lord Byron...
and Hölderlin
Friedrich Hölderlin
Johann Christian Friedrich Hölderlin was a major German lyric poet, commonly associated with the artistic movement known as Romanticism. Hölderlin was also an important thinker in the development of German Idealism, particularly his early association with and philosophical influence on his...
. She graduated magna cum laude in 1965.
Anne’s first museum experience was at the Tate Gallery
Tate
-Places:*Tate, Georgia, a town in the United States*Tate County, Mississippi, a county in the United States*Táté, the Hungarian name for Totoi village, Sântimbru Commune, Alba County, Romania*Tate, Filipino word for States...
, London where she worked for six months as part of an MA at the Courtauld Institute of Art
Courtauld Institute of Art
The Courtauld Institute of Art is a self-governing college of the University of London specialising in the study of the history of art. The Courtauld is one of the premier centres for the teaching of art history in the world; it was the only History of Art department in the UK to be awarded a top...
, preparing full catalogue entries on 30 Pre-Raphaelite paintings and drawings in the collection in 1966-67. She then came to the Philadelphia Museum of Art
Philadelphia Museum of Art
The Philadelphia Museum of Art is among the largest art museums in the United States. It is located at the west end of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia's Fairmount Park. The Museum was established in 1876 in conjunction with the Centennial Exposition of the same year...
as a Curatorial Assistant in the Department of Painting and Sculpture from 1967 through 1969. In 1969 she was hired as Assistant Curator of Twentieth-Century Art by the Art Institute of Chicago
Art Institute of Chicago
The School of the Art Institute of Chicago is one of America's largest accredited independent schools of art and design, located in the Loop in Chicago, Illinois. It is associated with the museum of the same name, and "The Art Institute of Chicago" or "Chicago Art Institute" often refers to either...
, a position she held until 1971.
Curatorship of Twentieth-Century Art at the Philadelphia Museum
Anne returned to the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 1972. For a decade between 1972 and 1982, she served as Curator of Twentieth-Century Art. A specialist in the art of Marcel Duchamp, in 1973 she co-organized a major retrospective exhibition of the artist’s work which originated in Philadelphia and traveled to the Museum of Modern Art and The Art Institute of Chicago. Other exhibitions organized or co-organized by Anne included Futurism and the International Avant-Garde (1980), Violet Oakley (1979), Eight Artists (1978) and John Cage: Scores & Prints (1982). During her tenure as curator, she reinstalled the permanent galleries in the wing of the Museum devoted to 20th-century art, creating rooms specifically dedicated to the work of Marcel Duchamp and the sculptor Constantin Brâncuşi. Under her curatorship, the Museum made the commitment to substantially build their contemporary collection, acquiring important works by Jasper JohnsJasper Johns
Jasper Johns, Jr. is an American contemporary artist who works primarily in painting and printmaking.-Life:Born in Augusta, Georgia, Jasper Johns spent his early life in Allendale, South Carolina with his paternal grandparents after his parents' marriage failed...
, Ellsworth Kelly
Ellsworth Kelly
Ellsworth Kelly is an American painter and sculptor associated with Hard-edge painting, Color Field painting and the Minimalist school. His works demonstrate unassuming techniques emphasizing the simplicity of form found similar to the work of John McLaughlin. Kelly often employs bright colors to...
, Dan Flavin
Dan Flavin
Dan Flavin was an American minimalist artist famous for creating sculptural objects and installations from commercially available fluorescent light fixtures.-Early life and career:...
, Sol LeWitt
Sol LeWitt
Solomon "Sol" LeWitt was an American artist linked to various movements, including Conceptual art and Minimalism....
, Brice Marden
Brice Marden
Brice Marden , is an American artist, generally described as Minimalist, although his work defies specific categorization. He lives in New York and Eagles Mere.Marden is represented by the Matthew Marks Gallery.-Life:...
, Agnes Martin
Agnes Martin
Agnes Bernice Martin was an American abstract painter, often referred to as a minimalist; Martin considered herself an abstract expressionist.She won a National Medal of Arts from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1998....
, Elizabeth Murray
Elizabeth Murray
Elizabeth Murray may refer to:*Lady Elizabeth Murray, daughter of the 2nd Earl of Mansfield*Elizabeth Murray , American artist*Elizabeth Murray, wife of Edward Robbins and great-great grandmother to Franklin D. Roosevelt...
, Claes Oldenburg
Claes Oldenburg
Claes Oldenburg is a Swedish sculptor, best known for his public art installations typically featuring very large replicas of everyday objects...
, Katherine Anne Porter
Katherine Anne Porter
Katherine Anne Porter was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American journalist, essayist, short story writer, novelist, and political activist. Her 1962 novel Ship of Fools was the best-selling novel in America that year, but her short stories received much more critical acclaim...
, Dorothea Rockburne
Dorothea Rockburne
Dorothea Rockburne is an abstract painter drawing inspiration primarily from her deep interest in mathematics and astronomy. In 1950 she moved to the United States to attend Black Mountain College, where she studied with mathematician Max Dehn, a lifelong influence on her work...
, James Rosenquist
James Rosenquist
James Rosenquist is an American artist and one of the protagonists in the pop-art movement.-Background and education:...
, and Frank Stella
Frank Stella
Frank Stella is an American painter and printmaker, significant within the art movements of minimalism and post-painterly abstraction.-Biography:...
among others.
Directorship of the Philadelphia Museum
An internationally respected art historian and museum leader, Anne served as Director of the Philadelphia Museum of Art from 1982, and as both Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Museum since 1997. As Director, d’Harnoncourt fostered the growth and distinction of the Museum’s professional staff, and encouraged a sequence of major exhibitions and publications by Museum curators and scholars. Among these are the retrospectives Brancusi (1995), Cézanne (1996), Hon’ami Koetsu (2000), Barnett Newman (2002), and Salvador DalíSalvador Dalí
Salvador Domènec Felip Jacint Dalí i Domènech, Marquis de Púbol , commonly known as Salvador Dalí , was a prominent Spanish Catalan surrealist painter born in Figueres,Spain....
(2005) and surveys on topics ranging from Pennsylvania Germans: A Celebration of Their Arts (1983) to Japanese Design (1994), The Splendor of Eighteenth-Century Rome (2000) to Tesoros: The Arts in Latin America 1492–1820 (2006).
Each exhibition was accompanied by a groundbreaking catalogue, while other Museum publications under her leadership have included British Paintings in the Philadelphia Museum of Art (1986), Handbook of the Collections (1995), Gifts in Honor of the Museum’s 125th Anniversary (2002), and Italian Paintings 1250–1450 (2004).
Between 1992 and 1995, in a massive building project undertaken to reinstall all of the Museum’s European collections, over 90 galleries were renovated and relit, while thousands of works of art were examined, conserved and placed in fresh contexts. Twenty galleries for modern and contemporary art were renovated and reopened in the fall of 2000.
As part of the Long Range Plan, and in celebration of the Museum’s 125th anniversary year, a capital campaign with a goal of $200 million was formally launched in December 2000. Over $246 million was raised by the end of the campaign. In the same year, the Museum acquired a landmark building across the street and embarked on a comprehensive master plan for its use and the additional steps necessary to meet the Museum’s 25-year requirements for new or renovated space. The renovated structure, now named the Ruth and Raymond G. Perelman Building, opened in September 2007. It houses greatly expanded, state-of-the-art facilities for the Museum's collections of prints, drawings, and photographs, costumes and textiles, modern and contemporary design, and Library and Archives.
After her death in 2008, Cleveland Museum of Art
Cleveland Museum of Art
The Cleveland Museum of Art is an art museum situated in the Wade Park District, in the University Circle neighborhood on Cleveland's east side. Internationally renowned for its substantial holdings of Asian and Egyptian art, the museum houses a diverse permanent collection of more than 43,000...
director Timothy Rub
Timothy Rub
Timothy F. Rub is an American museum director and art historian. He currently holds the position of the George D. Widener Director and Chief Executive Officer at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, one of the largest museums in the United States.- Biography :...
was chosen as her successor.
The Gross Clinic
In 2006, Anne d’Harnoncourt brought art lovers from the around the world together as she worked tirelessly to ensure that Thomas EakinsThomas Eakins
Thomas Cowperthwait Eakins was an American realist painter, photographer, sculptor, and fine arts educator...
's masterpiece, The Gross Clinic
The Gross Clinic
The Gross Clinic, or, The Clinic of Dr. Gross, is an 1875 painting by American artist Thomas Eakins. It is oil on canvas and measures by . Dr. Samuel D. Gross, a seventy-year-old professor dressed in a black frock coat, lectures a group of Jefferson Medical College students...
, was not sold and taken away from its longtime place in Philadelphia.
Service on boards and committees
- Regent of the Smithsonian InstitutionSmithsonian InstitutionThe Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...
- Board of Directors, The Henry Luce Foundation
- Board of Directors, The Japan SocietyJapan Society (New York)Founded in 1907, Japan Society is a nonprofit, nonpolitical organization that aims to brings the people of Japan and the United States closer together through understanding, appreciation and cooperation...
- Board of Directors, The Fabric Workshop and MuseumThe Fabric Workshop and MuseumThe Fabric Workshop and Museum, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S., is a non-profit arts organization devoted to creating new work in new materials and new media in collaboration with emerging, nationally, and internationally recognized artists....
- Board of Trustees, Fairmount Park Art Association
- Board of Trustees, The Philadelphia Award
- Board of Directors, The John Cage Trust
- Board of Directors, ARTstorARTstorARTstor is a non-profit organization that builds and distributes the Digital Library, an online resource of more than one million images in the arts, architecture, humanities, and sciences. The ARTstor Digital Library also includes a set of software tools to view, present, and manage images for...
- Museum Panel, National Endowment for the ArtsNational Endowment for the ArtsThe National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...
- Visual Arts Panel, National Endowment for the Arts
- Board of Trustees, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture GardenHirshhorn Museum and Sculpture GardenThe Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is an art museum beside the National Mall, in Washington, D.C., the United States. The museum was initially endowed during the 1960s with the permanent art collection of Joseph H. Hirshhorn. It was designed by architect Gordon Bunshaft and is part of the...
- Board of Trustees, Institute for Advanced StudyInstitute for Advanced StudyThe Institute for Advanced Study, located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States, is an independent postgraduate center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. It was founded in 1930 by Abraham Flexner...
, Princeton - Indo/U.S. Sub-commission on Education and Culture
- Harvard University Art MuseumsHarvard University Art MuseumsThe Harvard Art Museums, part of Harvard University, comprise three museums and four research centers .The Harvard Art Museums...
Visiting Committee - National Endowment for the Arts Indemnity Panel
- Board of Advisors, Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, National Gallery of ArtNational Gallery of ArtThe National Gallery of Art and its Sculpture Garden is a national art museum, located on the National Mall between 3rd and 9th Streets at Constitution Avenue NW, in Washington, DC...
- Pennsylvania Council on the Arts
- Visiting Committee, J. Paul Getty MuseumJ. Paul Getty MuseumThe J. Paul Getty Museum, a program of the J. Paul Getty Trust, is an art museum. It has two locations, one at the Getty Center in Los Angeles, California, and one at the Getty Villa in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, California...
Honors
- Captain Jonathan Fay Prize, Radcliffe College, 1965
- Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, Republic of France, 1995
- Philadelphia Award, 1997
- Founders Award for Exemplary Service to History, The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 2001
- Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, Republic of France 2002
- Honorary Doctorate of Laws, Princeton University, 2005
- Order of the Aztec EagleOrder of the Aztec EagleThe Order of the Aztec Eagle is a Mexican order and is the highest decoration awarded to foreigners in the country.It was created by decree on December 29, 1933 by President Abelardo L. Rodríguez as a reward to services given to Mexico or humankind by foreigners...
, Republic of Mexico, 2007