Ingrid Sischy

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.{{cite news|title=Paid Notice: Deaths – Sischy, Benjamin|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/09/27/classified/paid-notice-deaths-sischy-benjamin.html|access-date=July 25, 2015|work=The New York Times|date=September 27, 2000}}{{cite web|title=Highland Hospital: Radiation Oncology |url=https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/MediaLibraries/URMCMedia/giving/documents/RadOnc_slipsheet_web.pdf|website=Highland Hospital, University of Rochester Medical School|access-date=July 25, 2015}} Her family was Jewish; they had Lithuanian ancestry.Michael Wolff, [http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/media/columns/medialife/3955/ "Fametown"], New York Magazine, October 23, 2000.{{cite news|last1=Smith|first1=Dinitia|title=After Andy: Ingrid Sischy, Queen of the Downtown Art Scene, Takes over at Interview|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YrUA24_g1QQC&q=ingrid%20sischy%20family&pg=PA44|access-date=July 25, 2015|work=New York|date=January 29, 1990}}

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.{{cite news|title=South African-born Dr. Benjamin Sischy dies at age 82|url=http://www.bangla2000.com/news/archive/international/10-4-2000/news_detail6.html|access-date=July 25, 2015|work=Bangla2000|agency=Associated Press|date=October 4, 2000}}

While in Scotland, Sischy attended George Watson's Ladies College. In Rochester, she graduated from Brighton High School.{{cite news|last1=Lemon|first1=Brendan|title=Sense and Sensibility|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W2MEAAAAMBAJ&q=ingrid%20sischy%20lesbian%20interview&pg=PA54|access-date=July 26, 2015|work=The Advocate|date=March 5, 1996}} Sischy started college at Sarah Lawrence College.{{cite news|last1=Zerbib|first1=Kathy|title=Ingrid Sischy, Fashion Writer and Longtime Interview Magazine Editor, Dead at 63|url=http://www.thewrap.com/ingrid-sischy-fashion-writer-and-longtime-interview-magazine-editor-dead-at-63|access-date=July 25, 2015|work=The Wrap|date=July 25, 2015}} She also took writing classes with Grace Paley. Sischy graduated from Sarah Lawrence in 1973.

She received an honorary PhD in the humanities from the Moore College of Art in 1987.

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. 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.

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.

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{{cite news|last1=Horgan|first1=Richard|title=Ingrid Sischy's First Magazine Cover|url=http://www.adweek.com/fishbowlny/ingrid-sischy-artforum-rip/349782|access-date=July 26, 2015|work=Adweek|date=July 25, 2015}} and content, often written by artists.{{cite news|title=Ingrid Sischy (1952–2015)|url=http://artforum.com/news/id=53934|access-date=July 25, 2015|work=Artforum|date=July 24, 2015}}{{cite news|last1=Saltz|first1=Jerry|title=Ingrid Sischy, Artforum Maestro: 1952–2015|url=http://www.vulture.com/2015/07/ingrid-sischy-artforum-maestro-19522015.html|access-date=July 25, 2015|work=Vulture|date=July 24, 2015}} Sischy edited Artforum for eight years.{{Cite news|url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/ct-ae-best-chicago-art-2017-1217-story.html|title=The year in visual art was a dizzying reflection of today|last=Waxman|first=Lori|work=chicagotribune.com|access-date=August 10, 2018|language=en-US}} Sischy was profiled at length by the critic and journalist Janet Malcolm in The New Yorker.{{cite magazine|last1=Malcolm|first1=Janet|title=A Girl of the Zeitgesit – Part I|url=http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1986/10/20/a-girl-of-the-zeitgeist-i|access-date=July 25, 2015|magazine=The New Yorker|date=October 20, 1986}}{{cite magazine|last1=Malcolm|first1=Janet|title=A Girl of the Zeitgesit – Part II|url=http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1986/10/27/ii-a-girl-of-the-zeitgeist|access-date=July 25, 2015|magazine=The New Yorker|date=October 27, 1986}}{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/ingrid-sischy-in-the-new-yorker|title=Ingrid Sischy in The New Yorker|magazine=The New Yorker|access-date=August 10, 2018|language=en-US}}

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. From 1988–1996, she worked at The New Yorker, reporting on fashion and art.{{cite magazine|last1=Rothman|first1=Joshua|title=Ingrid Sischy in The New Yorker|url=http://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/ingrid-sischy-in-the-new-yorker|access-date=July 26, 2015|magazine=The New Yorker|date=July 25, 2015}}

In 1989, Sischy became the editor of Interview, a downtown magazine founded by Andy Warhol in 1969. During her tenure at Interview, covers of the magazine became noted by the press.{{cite news|title=Interview magazine's best covers under Ingrid Sischy – in pictures|url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2015/jul/24/interview-magazine-best-covers-under-ingrid-sischy|access-date=July 25, 2015|work=The Guardian|date=July 24, 2015}}

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. Part of this exhibition was later presented at the Guggenheim Museum Soho.{{cite news|last1=Spindler|first1=Amy M|title=Fashion as Art. Or Maybe Not|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/09/15/arts/fashion-as-art-or-maybe-not.html|access-date=July 27, 2015|work=The New York Times|date=September 15, 1996}}{{cite news|last1=Smith|first1=Roberta|title=Serious Side of an Infatuation With Fashion|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/03/14/arts/serious-side-of-an-infatuation-with-fashion.html|access-date=July 27, 2015|work=The New York Times|date=March 14, 1997}}

In 2008, Sischy resigned from Interview magazine amidst much press and speculation.{{cite news|title=Renowned Editor of Interview Magazine Ingrid Sischy Resigns After 18 Years|url=http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/renowned-editor-of-interview-magazine-ingrid-sischy-resigns-after-18-years-57162947.html|access-date=July 25, 2015|agency=PR Newswire|date=January 23, 2008}}{{cite news|last1=Ryzik|first1=Melena|title=Magazine Started by Warhol Names Editorial Directors|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/25/business/media/25mag.html|access-date=July 25, 2015|work=The New York Times|date=January 25, 2008}}{{cite news|last1=Koblin|first1=John|title=Interview Editor Ingrid Sischy Quits|url=http://observer.com/2008/01/iinterviewi-editor-ingrid-sischy-quits/|access-date=July 25, 2015|work=Observer|date=January 24, 2008}}

Sischy was a contributing editor to Vanity Fair from 1997 until her death in 2015. 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.{{cite web|title=Ingrid Sischy on Cindy Sherman's Untitled #479, 1975|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPBcoiF-010|website=Walker Art Center|access-date=July 26, 2015|date=November 9, 2012}} She shared this position with her long-time partner and later wife, Sandra Brant.{{cite news|title=Ingrid Sischy and Sandra Brant to Helm 'Vanity Fair' Abroad |url=http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2008/03/ingrid_sischy_and_sandra_brant.html|access-date=July 26, 2015|work=New York|date=March 17, 2008}}{{cite news|last1=Fury|first1=Alexander|title=Ingrid Sischy: A tribute to the magazine editor who showed no vanity, but lots of flair|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/ingrid-sischy-a-tribute-to-the-magazine-editor-who-showed-no-vanity-but-lots-of-flair-10416038.html|access-date=July 26, 2015|work=The Independent|date=July 25, 2015}}

Sischy was a member of an all-female art band called Disband, founded in 1978 by artists and writers.{{cite web|title=Disband – Press Release|url=https://disbandny.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/pr_disband.pdf|website=disbandny.files.wordpress.com|access-date=July 25, 2015}}{{cite web|last1=Feldman|first1=Alaina Claire|title=Disband|url=http://dismagazine.com/disco/interviews/35988/disband|website=dis|access-date=July 25, 2015|year=2012}} 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.{{cite web|last1=Hershman Leeson|first1=Lynn|title=!Women Art Revolution|url=http://www.womenartrevolution.com/index.php}}

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.{{cite news|last1=Silver|first1=Dena|title=Remembering Ingrid Sischy Through Her Most Memorable Stories|url=http://observer.com/2015/07/remembering-ingrid-sischy-through-her-most-memorable-stories/|access-date=July 25, 2015|work=Observer|date=July 24, 2015}}

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.{{cite news|title=Bruce Weber presenting to Ingrid Sischy for "Fashion Scoop of the Year:" Fashion Media Awards 2013|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ea5xTuz5tt8|access-date=July 26, 2015|work=Look TV|date=September 7, 2013}}

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.{{cite magazine|last1=Sischy|first1=Ingrid|title=Photography White and Black|url=http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1989/11/13/photography-white-and-black|access-date=July 25, 2015|magazine=The New Yorker|date=November 13, 1989}}

Sischy described the chronic battles of her brother, Mark Sischy, with alcoholism in her interview with designer John Galliano, who was newly sober.{{cite news|last1=Sischy|first1=Ingrid|title=Galliano in the Wilderness|url=http://www.vanityfair.com/style/2013/07/galliano-first-interview-dior-sober|access-date=July 25, 2015|work=Vanity Fair|date=July 2013}}

In 2015, Sischy married her longtime partner of over 25 years, Sandra Brant (née Simms).{{cite news|last1=Curtis|first1=Nick|title=Meet the godparents of Elton John's new baby|url=https://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/meet-the-godparents-of-elton-johns-new-baby-6554711.html|access-date=July 26, 2015|work=London Evening Standard|date=January 12, 2011}}{{cite news|last1=Lockwood|first1=Lisa|title=Ingrid Sischy Dies at 63|url=http://wwd.com/media-news/media-features/ingrid-sischy-dies-at-10192369/|access-date=July 25, 2015|work=Women's Wear Daily|date=July 25, 2015}}

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

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

• 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}}

• Sischy, Ingred. "[http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1989/11/13/photography-white-and-black Photography White and Black]." The New Yorker. November 13, 1989.
• Sischy, Ingrid. "[http://www.interviewmagazine.com/fashion/vintage-wintour Vintage Wintour]." Interview. December 1993.
• Sischy, Ingrid and Gladys Perint Palmer. "[http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1996/04/01/artful-dodger Artful Dodger]." The New Yorker. April 1, 1996.
• Sischy, Ingrid. "[http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2001/03/jeff-koons-200103 Koons, High and Low]." Vanity Fair. March 2001.
• Sischy, Ingrid. "[http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2002/02/prada-store-200202 The Rebel in Prada]." Vanity Fair. February 2002.
• Sischy, Ingrid. "[https://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/23/magazine/why-we-love-fashion-it-s-genius-alexander-the-great.html Why We Love Fashion? It's Genius.; Alexander The Great]." The New York Times. February 23, 2003.
• Sischy, Ingrid. "[https://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/27/style/tmagazine/t_w_1593_1594_well_mori_.html The Space Cadet]." The New York Times. August 27, 2006.
• Sischy, Ingrid. "[http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2008/04/calvin200804 Calvin to the Core]." Vanity Fair. April 2008.
• Sischy, Ingrid. "[http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2010/04/mcqueen-201004 A Man of Darkness and Dreams]." Vanity Fair. April 2010.
• Kuo, Michelle and Ingrid Sischy. "[https://artforum.com/inprint/issue=201207&id=32030 Open Book: Michelle Kuo Talks with Ingrid Sischy]." Artforum. September 2012.
• Sischy, Ingrid. "[http://www.vanityfair.com/style/2013/07/galliano-first-interview-dior-sober Galliano in the Wilderness]." Vanity Fair. July 2013.
• Sischy, Ingrid. "[http://www.vanityfair.com/style/2014/04/nicolas-ghesquiere-louis-vuitton-creative-director The Thriller at Vuitton]." Vanity Fair. April 2014.
• Sischy, Ingrid. "[http://www.vanityfair.com/style/2015/07/hudson-kroenig-chanel-karl-lagerfeld-ingrid-sischy The Boy Who Loved Chanel]." Vanity Fair. July 2015.

• 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}}

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• [https://disbandny.wordpress.com/ Disband] official website

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Category:1952 births

Category:2015 deaths

Category:American magazine editors

Category:American women magazine editors

Category:American people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent

Category:American people of South African-Jewish descent

Category:Deaths from breast cancer in New York (state)

Category:South African LGBTQ journalists

Category:Writers from Johannesburg

Category:Sarah Lawrence College alumni

Category:South African emigrants to the United States

Category:South African Jews

Category:South African people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent

Category:South African art critics