Title
Honoring the Legacy of Anne d'Harnoncourt by renaming Art Museum Drive as Anne d'Harnoncourt Drive to honor a remarkable legacy of achievement.
Body
WHEREAS, Anne d'Harnoncourt, who passed away in June 2008, was a noted civic leader, cultural advocate, and Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Philadelphia Museum of Art (Art Museum) who was known for her steadfast devotion to the advancement, enjoyment, and educational impact of art and culture throughout the City of Philadelphia, the region, the United States, and the world; and
WHEREAS, Ms. d'Harnoncourt became the Art Museum's Director in 1982, and through the strength of her leadership and belief in the power of art to provide meaningful experiences and enhance the lives of our citizens and visitors from near and far, she vastly expanded the Art Museum's service to the public through a revitalization of numerous galleries that are dedicated to displaying the City's greatest art treasures; and
WHEREAS, Anne d'Harnoncourt was responsible for the numerous memorable exhibitions that showcased the work of world-renowned artists, including Marcel Duchamp, Paul Cézanne, Vincent Van Gogh, Henry Ossawa Tanner, Thomas Eakins, Salvador Dali, Auguste Renoir, and Frida Kahlo, but also assured that the Art Museum expanded its horizons of imagination with exhibitions dedicated to artists who might have been less well known, like Antonio Mancini or Beauford Delaney, and also brought us exhibitions that expanded our understanding and love of world cultures, like African Art/African Voices, Ike Taiga and Tokuyama Gyokuran, and Tesoros: The Arts in Latin America; and
WHEREAS, In 1996, Ms. d'Harnoncourt popularized and created great awareness of the Museum's Cézanne exhibition, which brought unprecedented numbers of visitors to the Art Museum, both from within the region and around the globe, so that today, the Art Museum generates substantial economic impact on an annual basis, ranging from $210 million to $235 million dollars every year; and
WHEREAS, Anne d'Harnoncourt dedicated herself to the power of education to change lives and has built education programs at the Art Museum that serve 85,000 school children in classrooms visits, serve a total of 200,000 children, teens, college students, adults, and seniors annually, provide free after-school, artists-in residence, and K-12 programs free for the Philadelphia Public schools, and has built distance-learning and web-based resources for teachers through the new Wachovia Education Resource Center; and
WHEREAS, Ms. d'Harnoncourt collaborated and partnered with the great diversity of cultural organizations from across the region, including but not limited to, the Free Library of Philadelphia, Taller Puertorriqueño, Police Athletic League, City of Philadelphia Department of Recreation, Mural Arts Program, Curtis Institute of Music, Congreso de Latinos Unidos, Mexican Cultural Center, Council of Spanish Speaking Organizations, African American Museum of Philadelphia, The Lighthouse, Multicultural Affairs Congress, AFRICOM, La Casa Latina of the University of Pennsylvania, and Intercultural Center of Swarthmore College, among many others; and
WHEREAS, Ms. d'Harnoncourt raised the profile of the Art Museum nationally and internationally and she dynamically enhanced the physical presence of the Art Museum through the addition of the Ruth and Raymond G. Perelman Building, which opened in 2007 and provides state-of-the-art spaces for the enjoyment and study of prints, drawings, photographs, costumes, textiles, modern and contemporary design, the Art Museum's library and archives, and new education resources; and
WHEREAS, Anne d'Harnoncourt is the recipient of some of the world's most prestigious awards, including the Philadelphia Award (1997), the Founder's Award for Exemplary Service to History of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania (2001), the Order of Art and Letters of the Republic of France (2002), an Honorary Doctorate of Law of Princeton University (2002), and the Order of the Aztec Eagle, of the Republic of Mexico (2007), and she served on numerous boards of directors, including the Smithsonian Institution, the Georgia O'Keeffe Foundation, the Henry Luce Foundation, the Fabric Workshop and Museum, Fairmount Park Art Association, the Japan Society, the John Cage Trust, ARTstor, and the International Advisory Committee of the State Hermitage Museum, and has been an active member of the Association of Art Museum Directors and the American Philosophical Society, and a Fellow of the American Academy of Art and Letters, among many other institutional affiliations and involvements around the world; and
RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That the Road of Fairmount Park known as Art Museum Drive shall henceforth be known as Anne d'Harnoncourt Drive to honor a remarkable legacy of achievement.
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