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Ingrid Sischy

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Ingrid Sischy
Born
Ingrid Barbara Sischy

(1952-03-02)March 2, 1952
Johannesburg, Transvaal, South Africa
DiedJuly 24, 2015(2015-07-24) (aged 63)
New York City, U.S.
Citizenship
  • South Africa
  • United States
Occupations
Years active1978–2015
Known for
Spouse
Sandra Brant
​
(m. 2015)​

Ingrid Barbara Sischy (/ˈsɪʃi/;[1] March 2, 1952 – July 24, 2015) was a South African-born American writer and editor who specialized in covering art, photography, and fashion.[2] She rose to prominence as the editor of Artforum from 1979 to 1988, and was editor-in-chief of Andy Warhol's Interview Magazine from 1989 to 2008.[3][4] Until her death in 2015, she and her partner Sandra Brant edited the Italian, Spanish and German editions of Vanity Fair.[5][6]

Early life

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Sischy was born 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.[7][8] Her family was Jewish; they had Lithuanian ancestry.[9][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 re-trained as a radiologist. The family had had to leave South Africa because Sischy's mother was in danger of being arrested for her involvement in an activist group, the Black Sash, that non-violently protested apartheid. 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, Sischy attended George Watson's Ladies College. In Rochester, she graduated from Brighton High School.[10][12] Sischy started college at Sarah Lawrence College.[13] She also took writing classes with Grace Paley.[10] Sischy 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

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After graduating from college, Sischy took a series of odd jobs and entry-level positions in the art world, including at galleries. She became the circulation coordinator at Print Collector's Newsletter, an art world industry resource, and was promoted to the role of editor, contributing reviews of art shows New York City. She was hired, and almost immediately fired, by the Guggenheim Museum in New York, where the dress code and atmosphere made her feel untrue 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 emerging artists.[10]

Museum of Modern Art

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In 1978, Sischy interned at The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) under a National Endowment for the Arts curation grant focusing on 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

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In 1979, at the age of 27, Sischy was appointed editor-in-chief of Artforum magazine by businessman and publisher Anthony Korner and Amy Baker Sandback. Sischy tapped into the downtown art scene and advised on covers[15] and content, often written by artists.[16][17] Sischy edited Artforum for eight years.[10][18] Sischy was profiled at length by the critic and journalist Janet Malcolm in The New Yorker.[19][20][21]

The New Yorker

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She left Artforum in 1988, to become a consulting editor at The New Yorker and work on the AIDS virus, which had begun to decimate the downtown artist community.[10] From 1988–1996, she worked at The New Yorker, reporting on fashion and art.[22]

Interview Magazine

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In 1989, Sischy became the editor of Interview, a downtown magazine founded by Andy Warhol in 1969.[10] During her tenure at Interview, covers of the magazine became noted by the press.[23]

In 1996, she was named Artistic Director of the inaugural Florence Fashion Biennale, where she organized 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.[24][25]

In 2008, Sischy resigned from Interview magazine amidst much press and speculation.[26][27][28]

Vanity Fair

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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.[29] She shared this position with her long-time partner and later wife, Sandra Brant.[30][31]

Other activities

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Sischy was a member of an all-female art band called Disband, founded in 1978 by artists and writers.[32][33] She was featured in the 2011 documentary film !Women Art Revolution, where she discussed her contributions to the feminist movement of female artists in the 1970s.[34]

She was a widely published author on a range of cultural subjects and contributed to several periodicals, including The New York Times and Vanity Fair and was at one time the fashion and photography critic for The New Yorker.[35]

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 the photographer Bruce Weber.[36]

Personal life

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Although she was in at least one long-term relationship with a woman from the time she was in college, it was a New Yorker review of photographer Robert Mapplethorpe photography show, "The Perfect Moment," where Sischy came out publicly as a lesbian.[10][37]

Sischy described the chronic battles of her brother, Mark Sischy, with alcoholism in her interview with designer John Galliano, who was newly sober.[38]

In 2015, Sischy married her longtime partner of over 25 years, Sandra Brant (née Simms).[39][14]

Brant was formerly married to Brant Publications' owner, Peter M. Brant, who was the publisher of Interview Magazine.[27] Sischy and Sandra Brant lived in Greenwich Village and in Montauk in a cottage designed by Stanford White.[5] They were godmothers to Elton John and David Furnish's son.[1][39]

Death

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

Works and publications

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Monographs

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  • Mapplethorpe, Robert, Ingrid Sischy, Richard Howard, and Richard Marshall. Robert Mapplethorpe. London: Secker & Warburg, 1991. ISBN 978-0-436-27361-2 OCLC 24668296
  • Wegman, William, and Ingrid Sischy. Fashion Photographs. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Publishers, 1999. ISBN 978-0-810-92944-9 OCLC 41951322
  • Sischy, Ingrid. Albert Watson: The Vienna album. Munich: Schirmer Mosel, 2005. ISBN 978-3-829-60215-0 OCLC 492588389
  • Sischy, Ingrid. Donna Karan, New York. New York: Assouline, 2005. ISBN 978-2-843-23713-3 OCLC 71147754
  • Sischy, Ingrid. Created Equal: Mark Laita. Göttingen: Steidl, 2008. ISBN 978-3-865-21709-7 OCLC 758790716
  • Von Unwerth, Ellen, and Ingrid Sischy. Fräulein. 2009, 2015. ISBN 978-3-836-55556-2 OCLC 893896042

Selected feature articles

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Other works

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  • Granet, Ilona, Donna Henes, Ingrid Sischy, Diane Torr, Martha Wilson, Barbara Ess, Daile Kaplan, Barbara Kruger, and Cornelia H. Butler. Disband: 1978–1982. Los Angeles: 2008. (video recording) OCLC 828733411
  • Disband. Disband New York, NY: Primary Information, 2009. (CD) OCLC 849685952
  • Hershman-Leeson, Lynn, Kyle Stephan, Alexandra Chowaniec, Spain, Krista Lynes, Claire Daigle, and Fiona Summers. W.A.R. Women Art Revolution. New York: Zeitgeist Films, 2010. (documentary) OCLC 878431909

References

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  1. ^ a b Fox, Margalit (July 24, 2015). "Ingrid Sischy, Doyenne of Art and Fashion, Dies at 63". The New York Times. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
  2. ^ Roche, Eddie (July 24, 2015). "Remembering Ingrid Sischy". Daily Front Row. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
  3. ^ Wolff, Michael (October 23, 2000). "This Media Life: Fametown". New York. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
  4. ^ Brait, Ellen (July 24, 2015). "Ingrid Sischy, longtime editor of Interview magazine, dies at age 63". The Guardian. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
  5. ^ a b c d Carter, Graydon (July 24, 2015). "Ingrid Sischy: An Appreciation". Vanity Fair. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
  6. ^ a b Pérez-Peña, Richard (March 18, 2008). "Condé Nast Names 2 for European Ventures". The New York Times. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
  7. ^ "Paid Notice: Deaths – Sischy, Benjamin". The New York Times. September 27, 2000. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
  8. ^ "Highland Hospital: Radiation Oncology" (PDF). Highland Hospital, University of Rochester Medical School. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
  9. ^ Michael Wolff, "Fametown", New York Magazine, October 23, 2000.
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Smith, Dinitia (January 29, 1990). "After Andy: Ingrid Sischy, Queen of the Downtown Art Scene, Takes over at Interview". New York. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
  11. ^ "South African-born Dr. Benjamin Sischy dies at age 82". Bangla2000. Associated Press. October 4, 2000. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
  12. ^ a b Lemon, Brendan (March 5, 1996). "Sense and Sensibility". The Advocate. Retrieved July 26, 2015.
  13. ^ Zerbib, Kathy (July 25, 2015). "Ingrid Sischy, Fashion Writer and Longtime Interview Magazine Editor, Dead at 63". The Wrap. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
  14. ^ a b c d Lockwood, Lisa (July 25, 2015). "Ingrid Sischy Dies at 63". Women's Wear Daily. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
  15. ^ Horgan, Richard (July 25, 2015). "Ingrid Sischy's First Magazine Cover". Adweek. Retrieved July 26, 2015.
  16. ^ "Ingrid Sischy (1952–2015)". Artforum. July 24, 2015. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
  17. ^ Saltz, Jerry (July 24, 2015). "Ingrid Sischy, Artforum Maestro: 1952–2015". Vulture. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
  18. ^ Waxman, Lori. "The year in visual art was a dizzying reflection of today". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved August 10, 2018.
  19. ^ Malcolm, Janet (October 20, 1986). "A Girl of the Zeitgesit – Part I". The New Yorker. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
  20. ^ Malcolm, Janet (October 27, 1986). "A Girl of the Zeitgesit – Part II". The New Yorker. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
  21. ^ "Ingrid Sischy in The New Yorker". The New Yorker. Retrieved August 10, 2018.
  22. ^ Rothman, Joshua (July 25, 2015). "Ingrid Sischy in The New Yorker". The New Yorker. Retrieved July 26, 2015.
  23. ^ "Interview magazine's best covers under Ingrid Sischy – in pictures". The Guardian. July 24, 2015. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
  24. ^ Spindler, Amy M (September 15, 1996). "Fashion as Art. Or Maybe Not". The New York Times. Retrieved July 27, 2015.
  25. ^ Smith, Roberta (March 14, 1997). "Serious Side of an Infatuation With Fashion". The New York Times. Retrieved July 27, 2015.
  26. ^ "Renowned Editor of Interview Magazine Ingrid Sischy Resigns After 18 Years". PR Newswire. January 23, 2008. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
  27. ^ a b Ryzik, Melena (January 25, 2008). "Magazine Started by Warhol Names Editorial Directors". The New York Times. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
  28. ^ Koblin, John (January 24, 2008). "Interview Editor Ingrid Sischy Quits". Observer. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
  29. ^ "Ingrid Sischy on Cindy Sherman's Untitled #479, 1975". Walker Art Center. November 9, 2012. Retrieved July 26, 2015.
  30. ^ "Ingrid Sischy and Sandra Brant to Helm 'Vanity Fair' Abroad". New York. March 17, 2008. Retrieved July 26, 2015.
  31. ^ Fury, Alexander (July 25, 2015). "Ingrid Sischy: A tribute to the magazine editor who showed no vanity, but lots of flair". The Independent. Retrieved July 26, 2015.
  32. ^ "Disband – Press Release" (PDF). disbandny.files.wordpress.com. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
  33. ^ Feldman, Alaina Claire (2012). "Disband". dis. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
  34. ^ Hershman Leeson, Lynn. "!Women Art Revolution".
  35. ^ Silver, Dena (July 24, 2015). "Remembering Ingrid Sischy Through Her Most Memorable Stories". Observer. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
  36. ^ "Bruce Weber presenting to Ingrid Sischy for "Fashion Scoop of the Year:" Fashion Media Awards 2013". Look TV. September 7, 2013. Retrieved July 26, 2015.
  37. ^ Sischy, Ingrid (November 13, 1989). "Photography White and Black". The New Yorker. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
  38. ^ Sischy, Ingrid (July 2013). "Galliano in the Wilderness". Vanity Fair. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
  39. ^ a b Curtis, Nick (January 12, 2011). "Meet the godparents of Elton John's new baby". London Evening Standard. Retrieved July 26, 2015.
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