November, 20th, 2014

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If I’m a dreamer, you’re the dream

Comte René d’Harnoncourt
Director of @theMuseumofModernArt | 1949 – 1967

Lensed by #LouiseDahlWolfe #1952 #Eames chair at #MoMA

Of Austrian, Czech, and French descent, Count René d’Harnoncourt was born in Vienna, the son of Count Hubert d’Harnoncourt and his wife, the former Julie Mittrowsky. Although he showed an interest in art as a child, he received a technical education. After his family suffered severe financial losses, he moved to #Paris in 1924, and went to #Mexico in 1926. D’Harnoncourt initially eked out a minimal living as a commercial artist, but quickly acquired a reputation for his knowledgeable advice to #American #antique collectors. In 1927, d’Harnoncourt went to work for Frederick W. #Davis who operated one of the most important antiquities and folk art shops in #Mexico City. Davis was among the first to collect, display and sell the work of the emerging #Mexican #artists such as #DiegoRivera #JoseClementeOrozco and #RufinoTamayo – others who frequented the shop included #MiguelCovarrubias and #JeanCharlot – D’Harnoncourt left Davis’s shop in 1933 and moved to the US. In 1936, He became the general manager of the #Indian #Arts and #Crafts #Board (IACB), a #Roosevelt #NewDeal agency created to revive Native American arts and crafts. To promote Native American craftwork, d’Harnoncourt developed an exhibit of #Native #American arts and crafts for the 1939 #GG in SanFran. In 1949 he was appointed Director of the #MoMA a position held until 1967 with a series of significant exhibitions over the course of his tenure, including #Lipchitz (1954), #Rodin (1963), & #Picasso (1967). D’Harnoncourt was also an advisor to Nelson Rockefeller. He was a tireless #museum nobility of modern art. His daughter Ms. Anne d’Harnoncourt would have had an equally illustrious career in the State Department. Instead She was in the midst of overseeing a 596-million-dollar expansion and renovation, including a #FrankGehry reworking of the main building and a new sculpture garden of the .. #Philadelphia @PhilaMuseum of Art. Diplomates, modernes, de l’Art et de l’Être.

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