The following is a text-only announcement from the
federal Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). An HTML version can be
read on the agency's Web site at http://www.imls.gov/news/2008/060208.shtm.
A Statement from Anne-Imelda Radice, Director of IMLS, on
the loss of Anne D’Harnoncourt, Director and CEO of the Philadelphia
Museum of Art
WASHINGTON, DC (June 2, 2008)— The Institute of
Museum and Library Services is greatly saddened by the sudden loss of friend of
the agency and the arts, Anne D’Harnoncourt.
Museums were in Ms. D’Harnoncourt’s blood: as
the daughter of Rene d'Harnoncourt, former director of New York's Museum of
Modern Art, she grew up in the company of famous and influential artists,
including Jasper Johns, Marcel Duchamp, and Mark Rothko. After graduating with
a B.A. from Radcliffe College and an M.A. from the Courtauld Institute of Art
in London, she launched her own outstanding career in the museum world.
Since 1997, she had served as both Director and Chief
Executive Officer of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, one of the few women in
the art community to hold such a prestigious museum directorship. Under her
guidance, the Philadelphia Museum of Art flourished. Her contributions to the
museum and to the art world are wide-reaching, and include her cultivation of a
number of the museum’s remarkable collections and her efforts to bring
world-class exhibitions to the institution.
The breadth and scope of Anne's accomplishments are truly
remarkable, and she will live on in the museum she loved and served, and in the
hearts and minds of the art community. The Institute extends its deepest
regrets to her husband and colleague, Joseph Rishel, and to her family. She
will be greatly missed.
IMLS Press Contacts
202-653-4632
Jeannine Mjoseth, [log in to unmask]