Anne d'Harnoncourt, Director and CEO, Dies at 64

So read the stark email subject line of the Philadelphia Museum of Art press release. I wonder, as someone who tries to put words together, how any writer would be capable of conveying the shock and sadness one feels on learning that Anne d'Harnoncourt passed away last night after suffering a cardiac arrest, unexpectedly and far too early at age 64. Miss d'Harnoncourt was the George D. Widener Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

That isn't the whole story, naturally. Anne d'Harnoncourt was also a brilliant art historian and curator. She spent almost all of her museum career at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, moving up the ranks from Curator of Twentieth-Century Art (1972-82), to Museum Director in 1982, a post she held concurrently with the Chief Executive Officer position from 1997 until now. She was responsible for overseeing two major building campaigns, more than 100 gallery renovations and reinstallations, many dozens of stellar exhibitions, superlative publications, and for steering the Museum's finances from red and bleeding to a healthy black. She rose on merit to a position that, if we're being honest, most female museum professionals do, have and will not. I had hoped to hear that Anne d'Harnoncourt had been shortlisted for the top job at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Not, of course, that Philadelphia would have given her up without a fight.

More than any of this, I have never heard one negative word about this woman. Not one. The museum community is truly a "small world." Thoughtful, intelligent and passionate about art, Miss d'Harnoncourt was universally respected and liked within it. The latter is impossible to achieve unless one is genuinely likable as a human being. I've got to assume that it was her personality--as well as her leadership skills--that allowed the Museum to hire and retain the fantastic staff it boasts. There are few art museums whose upcoming exhibition schedules I eagerly anticipate, but the Philadelphia Museum of Art is always amongst them; each time the best result of group effort from highly talented scholars, conservators, educators and writers.

Deepest sympathy to Miss d'Harnoncourt's spouse, Joseph J. Rishel, the Gisela and Dennis Alter Senior Curator of European Painting Before 1900 at the Museum. To the curators and communications officers at the Museum who have always graciously lent their time and expertise to About.com Art History readers, my condolences for your loss. To say that she will be missed is an enormous understatement.

Appreciation

• A Death in the Family - from the Philadelphia Daily News
• Museum's Heart and Soul - from the Philadelphia Inquirer
• Director's death almost tangible at Art Museum - from the Philadelphia Inquirer
• D'Harnoncourt's Lasting Footprint - from The Bulletin (Philadelphia)
• Remembering Museum Director Anne d'Harnoncourt - podcast from Terry Gross on WHYY's Fresh Air
• Anne d’Harnoncourt: Discerning Enthusiasm for Art - by Roberta Smith for The New York Times
• At Home With Anne d'Harnoncourt - 1996 NYT interview with Dinitia Smith

Image credit: Anne d'Harnoncourt, The George D. Widener Director and Chief Executive Officer, Philadelphia Museum of Art. (Photo: Graydon Wood, 2005.)