Rishel, Joseph J., 1974-1982

With her appointment in 1972 as PMA's first associate curator of 20th century painting, the media soon recognized and reported on d'Harnoncourt's work and promising career future. In 1977, the well-known New York Times art critic, John Russell singled out d'Harnoncourt in his article, "The Arts in the 70's: new tastemakers on stage," which is included here in photocopy form. Noting the impact of women holding influential positions in the art world and because of their number being too many to list in one article, Russell selected d'Harnoncourt as his one example. "[I]t would be hard...to find anyone in the profession who doubts that Anne d'Harnoncourt, now curator of 20th-century art in the Philadelphia Museum, will one day make a great museum director. And it is in the 70's that people like Miss d'Harnoncourt have come into their own." As the number of later writings about d'Harnoncourt attest, Russell could not have been more prescient.

The majority of clippings in this subseries appeared in general-interest magazines and newspapers. The arrangement of certain clippings corresponds with significant changes in d'Harnoncourt's career at PMA. The earliest clippings pertain to her curatorship (1972-1978); followed by coverage of her appointment as director (1982-1983); and then with her dual position appointment as director and chief executive officer (1996-1997). When the Museum of Modern Art was searching for a new director in 1994, d'Harnoncourt's name was often included as a candidate. The file of 1994-1995 clippings documents the speculation and her decision to remain in Philadelphia.

Even as a young scholar, d'Harnoncourt's observations were taken seriously. In the 1983 Burlington Magazine article included here, the author cites her 1967 MA thesis on Pre-Raphaelite art as one of a number of secondary sources discussing the basic imagery examined in the article. Also of note are three articles in the 1985-1989 general clippings file. The 1989 Town & Country and 1988 ARTnews articles are devoted solely to d'Harnoncourt. In the 1988 Savvy article, she is one of the four women featured as "[helping] shape our view of art." The 1998 Vanity Fair and Philadelphia Inquirer articles are filed separately as each includes correspondence pertaining primarily to the planning and execution of the articles.

d'Harnoncourt's office maintained clippings in separate folders only up to 1998. During processing, later clippings were transferred from her general annual folders (now Series I) and included here. Many of the clippings were also collected by d'Harnoncourt's mother, Sarah Carr d'Harnoncourt.