Art Museum names 2 staffers to interim posts

Following the death June 1 of Philadelphia Museum of Art director Anne d'Harnoncourt, two long-time museum staffers have been named to interim positions.

Chief operating officer Gail Harrity will act as the interim chief executive officer, and associate director of collections Alice Beamesderfer becomes interim head of curatorial affairs.

The appointments, effective immediately, were announced yesterday by H.F. "Gerry" Lenfest, who heads the museum's board.

A selection committee cochaired by trustees Martha Morris and Keith Sachs will be organized to search for a permanent successor, Lenfest said.

"In Gail and Alice we have two leaders who have served the institution with distinction," he said. "These professionals have worked closely with Anne over the years, share her vision, and together with the board and staff will guide the institution through able stewardship."

Since joining the museum as chief operating officer in 1997, Harrity has led the financial, communications, and management and marketing efforts, including creation of a single collections database of the museum's 225,000 objects and an easier-to-use Web site. Harrity previously was deputy director of New York's Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, where she directed planning for the Frank O. Gehry-designed Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in Spain.

She is a native of Rosemont and lives in Chestnut Hill.

Beamesderfer, who has been associate director for collections since 2001, came to the museum in 1987 and has held a series of key positions. Most recently, she collaborated with d'Harnoncourt and Carlos Basualdo, curator of contemporary art, on the exhibition

A Conversation in Three Dimensions: Sculpture From the Collections.

A native Philadelphian, Beamesderfer lives in Media. She will work with a newly created Curatorial Advisory Group made up of Joseph R. Rishel, Innis Shoemaker and Kathleen A. Foster, Lenfest said.

Rishel, who had been married to d'Harnoncourt since 1971, is senior curator of European painting before 1900, the John G. Johnson Collection, and the Rodin Museum.

Shoemaker is senior curator of prints, drawings and photographs. Foster is senior curator of American art and director of the Center for American Art.