Ingrid Sischy

Ingrid Sischy
Born Ingrid Barbara Sischy
(1952-03-02)March 2, 1952
Johannesburg, South Africa
Died July 24, 2015(2015-07-24) (aged 63)
New York, New York US
Cause of death Breast cancer
Nationality American
Occupation Writer
Art critic
Editor
Years active 1978–2015
Known for Artforum (1979–1988)
The New Yorker (1988–1996)
Interview (1989–2008)
Vanity Fair (1997–2015)
Spouse(s) Sandra Brant

Ingrid Barbara Sischy (/siː'sʃi/)[1] (March 2, 1952 – July 24, 2015) was a South African-born American writer and art critic who focused on art, photography, and fashion,[2] and was most well known as the editor of Andy Warhol's Interview Magazine from 1989 until 2008 as well as her powerful connections and friendships with many in the art community.[3][4] Until her death in 2015, she and her girlfriend and partner, Sandra Brant, worked together as the international editors of the Italian, Spanish, and German versions of Vanity Fair.[5][6]

Early life

Sischy was born to a Jewish family[7] in Johannesburg to Ben Sischy, a family doctor who became an expert in radiation oncology, and Claire Sischy, a speech therapist. She had two older brothers, Mark Sischy, a lawyer who lived in Scotland, and David Sischy, a doctor.[8][9] Her family was Jewish; they had Lithuanian ancestry.[10]

In 1961, when Sischy was nine years old, the Sischy family left Apartheid-era South Africa after the Sharpeville massacre and moved to Edinburgh, Scotland, where Dr. Sischy retrained in radiology (after being a family doctor for 20 years). The family had to leave South Africa because Sischy's mother, who was involved in a group called the Black Sash that non-violently protested Apartheid, was in danger of being arrested. In 1967, the family moved to Rochester, New York, where Sischy's father became the head of radiation oncology at Highland Hospital.[11]

While in Scotland, she attended George Watson's Ladies College. In Rochester, she graduated from Brighton High School, where she was the president of the senior class.[10][12] Sischy started college at Sarah Lawrence College during a time of great political unrest in the United States.[13]

During her college years, she came out as a lesbian, and took writing classes with Grace Paley.[10] She graduated from Sarah Lawrence in 1973.[10] She received an honorary PhD in the humanities from the Moore College of Art in 1987.[14]

Career

After graduating from college, Sischy worked in entry level positions in the art world in galleries and odd jobs, then became circulation coordinator at Print Collector's Newsletter, an art world industry resource. She worked her way up to be an editor, contributing articles that were reviews of works she saw in the burgeoning New York City art world. For a very short time she worked at the Guggenheim Museum in New York, but said she was fired and felt stifled by the dress code, where she felt like she was undercover, not true to herself.[12] She then worked at Printed Matter, Inc, a nonprofit book publisher that introduced her to artists like Sol LeWitt, Jenny Holzer, and many up and coming artists.[10]

Museum of Modern Art

In 1978, Sischy interned at the The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) under a National Endowment for the Arts curation grant, where she focused on curating photography exhibits, one called "In the Twenties: Portraits From the Photography Department", and another on photographer Ansel Adams. During this time, she was mentored by John Szarkowski. the Director of the Department of Photography at MoMA.[10]

Artforum

In 1979, at the age of 27, Sischy was hired to be editor of Artforum magazine by businessman and publisher Anthony Korner and Amy Baker Sandback. From what had been a staid and relatively conservative art journal, Sischy tapped into the vibrant art scene and created innovative, avant-garde covers[15] and content that created a new standard for art magazines, with content often written by fellow artists.[16][17] She was at Artforum for nine years.[10] During her time at Artforum, Sischy became a powerful force in the art world.[18][19]

The New Yorker

She left Artforum in 1988 to become a consulting editor at The New Yorker and work on in-depth research on the AIDS virus, which had begun to decimate the downtown artist community.[10] From 1988-96, she worked at The New Yorker, reporting on fashion and art.[20]

Interview

In 1989, Sischy took over as editor of Interview, a downtown magazine founded by Andy Warhol in 1969.[10] During her tenure at Interview, covers of the magazine became iconic, promoting artists, actors, and fashion icons from the art world.[21]

In 1996, she was named Artistic Director of the inaugural Florence Fashion Biennale, where she created an exhibition that showed work in 20+ museums in the Florence, Italy area.[14] Part of this exhibition was later presented at the Guggenheim Museum Soho.[22][23]

In 2008, Sischy resigned from Interview Magazine amidst much press and speculation.[24][25][26]

Vanity Fair

Sischy was a contributing editor to Vanity Fair from 1997 until her death in 2015.[5][6] She was the international editor of Condé Nast, writing for the Spanish, French, and Italian versions of Vanity Fair, and the German and Russian versions of Vogue.[27]

She shared this position with her long-time partner and later wife, Sandra Brant.[28][29]

Other activities

Sischy was a member of an all-female art band called DISBAND, founded in 1978 by artists and writers.[30][31] She was featured in the 2011 documentary film called !Women Art Revolution, where she discussed her contributions to the feminist movement of female artists in the 1970s.[32]

She was a widely published author on a range of cultural subjects. She contributed to a broad range of periodicals, including The New York Times and Vanity Fair and was at one time the fashion and photography critic for The New Yorker.[33]

In 2013, Sischy was given the "Fashion Scoop of the Year" Award (for her Vanity Fair piece on John Galliano) at the Fashion Media Awards by her friend, photographer Bruce Weber.[34]

Personal life

Although she was in at least one long-term relationship with women from the time she was in college, it was a The New Yorker review of photographer Robert Mapplethorpe photography show, "The Perfect Moment," where Sischy came out publicly as a lesbian.[10][35]

Sischy described the chronic battles of her brother, Mark Sischy, with alcoholism in her interview with designer John Galliano, who was newly sober.[36]

In 2015, Sischy married her longtime partner of over 25 years, Sandra Brant (née Simms).[37][14]

Brant was formerly married to Brant Publications' owner, Peter M. Brant, who was the publisher of Interview Magazine.[25] Ingrid Sischy and Sandra Brant lived in Montauk, the farthest point east on the southern shores of Long Island, in a cottage designed by Stanford White, and in a town house in Greenwich Village.[5] They were godmothers to Elton John and David Furnish's son.[1][37]

Death

Sischy died on 24 July 2015 at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center from breast cancer at the age of 63.[5][14]

Works and publications

Monographs

Selected feature articles

Other works

References

  1. 1 2 Fox, Margalit (24 July 2015). "Ingrid Sischy, Doyenne of Art and Fashion, Dies at 63". The New York Times. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
  2. ↑ Roche, Eddie (24 July 2015). "Remembering Ingrid Sischy". Daily Front Row. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
  3. ↑ Wolff, Michael (23 October 2000). "This Media Life: Fametown". New York. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
  4. ↑ Brait, Ellen (24 July 2015). "Ingrid Sischy, longtime editor of Interview magazine, dies at age 63". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Carter, Graydon (24 July 2015). "Ingrid Sischy: An Appreciation". Vanity Fair. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
  6. 1 2 Pérez-Peña, Richard (18 March 2008). "Condé Nast Names 2 for European Ventures". The New York Times. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
  7. ↑ New York Magazine: "Fametown - We always suspected celebrity was a place where all the stars know each other and have dinner together. We were right -- and it's Ingrid Sischy's hometown." by Michael Wolff 2016
  8. ↑ "Paid Notice: Deaths – Sischy, Benjamin". The New York Times. 27 September 2000. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
  9. ↑ "Highland Hospital: Radiation Oncology" (PDF). Highland Hospital, University of Rochester Medical School. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Smith, Dinitia (29 January 1990). "After Andy: Ingrid Sischy, Queen of the Downtown Art Scene, Takes over at Interview". New York. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
  11. ↑ "South African-born Dr. Benjamin Sischy dies at age 82". Bangla2000. Associated Press. 4 October 2000. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
  12. 1 2 Lemon, Brendan (5 March 1996). "Sense and Sensibility". The Advocate. Retrieved 26 July 2015.
  13. ↑ Zerbib, Kathy (25 July 2015). "Ingrid Sischy, Fashion Writer and Longtime Interview Magazine Editor, Dead at 63". The Wrap. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
  14. 1 2 3 4 Lockwood, Lisa (25 July 2015). "Ingrid Sischy Dies at 63". Women's Wear Daily. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
  15. ↑ Horgan, Richard (25 July 2015). "Ingrid Sischy’s First Magazine Cover". Adweek. Retrieved 26 July 2015.
  16. ↑ "Ingrid Sischy (1952–2015)". Artforum. 24 July 2015. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
  17. ↑ Saltz, Jerry (24 July 2015). "Ingrid Sischy, Artforum Maestro: 1952–2015". Vulture. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
  18. ↑ Malcolm, Janet (20 October 1986). "A Girl of the Zeitgesit – Part I". The New Yorker. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
  19. ↑ Malcolm, Janet (27 October 1986). "A Girl of the Zeitgesit – Part II". The New Yorker. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
  20. ↑ Rothman, Joshua (25 July 2015). "Ingrid Sischy in The New Yorker". The New Yorker. Retrieved 26 July 2015.
  21. ↑ "Interview magazine's best covers under Ingrid Sischy – in pictures". The Guardian. 24 July 2015. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
  22. ↑ Spindler, Amy M> (15 September 1996). "Fashion as Art. Or Maybe Not". The New York Times. Retrieved 27 July 2015.
  23. ↑ Smith, Roberta (14 March 1997). "Serious Side of an Infatuation With Fashion". The New York Times. Retrieved 27 July 2015.
  24. ↑ "Renowned Editor of Interview Magazine Ingrid Sischy Resigns After 18 Years". PR Newswire. 23 January 2008. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
  25. 1 2 Ryzik, Melena (25 January 2008). "Magazine Started by Warhol Names Editorial Directors". The New York Times. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
  26. ↑ Koblin, John (24 January 2008). "Interview Editor Ingrid Sischy Quits". Observer. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
  27. ↑ "Ingrid Sischy on Cindy Sherman's Untitled #479, 1975". Walker Art Center. 9 November 2012. Retrieved 26 July 2015.
  28. ↑ "Ingrid Sischy and Sandra Brant to Helm ‘Vanity Fair’ Abroad". New York. 17 March 2008. Retrieved 26 July 2015.
  29. ↑ Fury, Alexander (25 July 2015). "Ingrid Sischy: A tribute to the magazine editor who showed no vanity, but lots of flair". The Independent. Retrieved 26 July 2015.
  30. ↑ "DISBAND Press Release" (PDF). DISBAND. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
  31. ↑ Feldman, Alaina Claire (2012). "DISBAND". dis. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
  32. ↑ Hershman Leeson, Lynn. "!Women Art Revolution".
  33. ↑ Silver, Dena (24 July 2015). "Remembering Ingrid Sischy Through Her Most Memorable Stories". Observer. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
  34. ↑ "Bruce Weber presenting to Ingrid Sischy for "Fashion Scoop of the Year:" Fashion Media Awards 2013". Look TV. 7 September 2013. Retrieved 26 July 2015.
  35. ↑ Sischy, Ingrid (13 November 1989). "Photography White and Black". The New Yorker. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
  36. ↑ Sischy, Ingrid (July 2013). "Galliano in the Wilderness". Vanity Fair. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
  37. 1 2 Curtis, Nick (12 January 2011). "Meet the godparents of Elton John's new baby". London Evening Standard. Retrieved 26 July 2015.
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