{{Short description|American museum director (1932–2023)}} {{Infobox person | name = James Harithas | image = James Harithas, Victoria, Texas, 2016.jpg | caption = Harithas in 2016 | birth_name = James Harithas | birth_date = {{birth date |1932|12|1}} | birth_place = Lewiston, Maine, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|2023|03|23|1932|12|01}} | death_place = Houston, Texas, U.S. | education = University of Maine, University of Pennsylvania | occupation = Museum Director, Founder | spouse = {{plainlist| * {{marriage| Christiana Bakas<br>|1958|1977|end=divorced}} * {{marriage|Ann O'Connor Williams<br>|1978|2021|reason=died}} }} | known_for = Director of the Everson Museum, the Contemporary Arts Museum-Houston and the Station Museum of Contemporary Art }}
'''James Harithas''' (December 1, 1932 – March 23, 2023) was an American museum curator, director, and founder.
== Early life and education ==
Menelaus James "Jim" Harithas was born in Lewiston, Maine, the eldest of three children. His father Nikolaus was a lawyer and county judge, who had immigrated from Greece to attend Yale University. His mother, Terpsichore Seferlis, was the grandniece of a Greek Prime Minister. She painted in oils and played piano and violin.<ref name="pete">{{cite book |last1=Gershon |first1=Pete |title=Collision, The Contemporary Art Scene in Houston, 1972–1985 |date=2018 |publisher=Texas A&M University Press |isbn=9781623496326 |edition=First}}</ref>
Nikolaus served in the U.S. Army. The family moved frequently. After World War II, they were stationed in Occupied Germany, a chaotic and lawless environment. James returned to the U.S. in 1953.<ref name="rail">{{cite web |title=James Harithas with Raphael Rubinstein |url=https://brooklynrail.org/2008/06/art/james-harithas-with-raphael-rubinstein2 |website=The Brooklyn Rail |date=7 June 2008 |access-date=27 March 2023}}</ref>
He enrolled at the University of Maine at Orono, but left after three semesters.<ref name="rail" /> On a trip to visit his parents in 1948, Harithas was astonished by a show of Abstract Expressionist painters in Frankfurt. A few years later, he saw works by Jackson Pollock to "overwhelming effect." The experiences changed his life.<ref name="local">{{cite web |last1=Gordon |first1=Amy |title=Houston art legend Jim Harithas has died at the age of 90 |url=https://localtoday.news/tx/houston-art-legend-jim-harithas-has-died-at-the-age-of-90-196401.html |website=LocalToday |date=25 March 2023 |access-date=31 March 2023}}{{dead link|date=December 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> He quit school and hitchhiked to New York City to become a painter<ref name="tire" /> in the manner of Pollock, Kline or de Kooning.<ref name="rail" />
Because his mother painted, Harithas' interest in art had been piqued when he was quite young. He drew and doodled in school, winning prizes for his work. He started painting at 18 years of age.<ref>{{cite web |title=Audio excerpt: Oral history interview with James Harithas, 1979 Mar. 16 – May 17 |url=https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-james-harithas-11833 |website=Smithsonian, Archives of America Art |access-date=27 March 2023}}</ref> While he pursued an art career, he worked as a dishwasher in a 72nd St. establishment and as a baggage handler at the Hotel New Yorker.<ref name="rail" />
In 1954, he was drafted into the Army and was stationed in France during the Algerian War. After his discharge from the service in 1956, he stayed on in France. In 1957, he was admitted to the École des Beaux-Arts in Nancy, but it was not long before he returned to the United States <ref name="tire">{{cite web |last1=Fuentes |first1=Jessica |title=James Harithas, 1932 – 2023 |url=https://glasstire.com/2023/03/30/james-harithas-1932-2023/ |website=Glasstire |date=30 March 2023 |access-date=31 March 2023}}</ref>
He finished his undergraduate degree at the University of Maine.<ref name="tire" /> His field of study included political science, history, philosophy and art.<ref name="local" /> He obtained an MFA from the University of Pennsylvania. After graduation, he held a job cleaning sugar machines at the Quaker Sugar Refinery in Philadelphia while simultaneously making art.<ref name="tire" />
In 1958, he married Christiana Bakas, with whom he had three daughters, Ifienia, Thalia, and Amalia.<ref>{{cite web |title=Obituary, Christiana Keller |url=https://obituaries.neptunesociety.com/obituaries/houston-tx/christiana-keller-7112753 |website=Neptune Society |access-date=17 April 2023}}</ref>
==Early career==
Harithas landed a curatorial position with the De Cordova Museum in 1962. Although it was largely a regional museum, he was able to show work by Andy Warhol and Hans Haacke.<ref name="rail" /><ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Williams |first=Alex |date=April 30, 2023 |title=James Harithas, 90, Art Museum Director and Influential Force |language=en-US |volume=172 |page=A23 |work=The New York Times |issue=59774 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/28/arts/james-harithas-dead.html |access-date=2023-04-30 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
The following year, Harithas was appointed Curator of Collection of the Phoenix Art Museum.<ref>{{cite web |title=News and Announcements |url=https://www.artforum.com/print/196311/news-and-announcements-38063 |website=Artforum |date=November 1963 |access-date=31 March 2023}}</ref> His notable achievements there included a Paolo Soleri exhibition that was later shown at the Corcoran Gallery and the Whitney Museum, as well as a Contemporary Mexican exhibition that received national attention.<ref name="rail" />
==Corcoran Gallery of Art==
After two years in Phoenix, Harithas was hired as a curator by the Corcoran in Washington, D.C. He advanced to the position of assistant director. In 1968, he became director.<ref name="rail" />
At the time, Washington, D.C., was the epicenter of the civil rights and anti-war movements. Harithas attended anti-war demonstrations and the March on the Pentagon. His commitment to protest art solidified during the turbulent years.<ref name="rail" /> Believing the museum should respond to the social upheaval caused by race riots in the city, he opened a food distribution center in one of the galleries and increased the number of shows by African American artists held there.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Moser |first1=Charlotte |title=Steel Walls Do Not Make and Art Museum |date=September 1974 |pages=32–37}}</ref> thumb|Barnett Newman Broken Obelisk Rothko Chapel (HDR)
In 1967, ''Scale as Content'' brought three monumental sculptures to locations outside the Corcoran. Barnett Newman's piece, 3-tons of Cor-Ten steel shaped like an inverted obelisk balanced on the point of a pyramid, was placed on a corner between the museum and the National Mall with a view of the Washington Monument. Broken Obelisk stirred up considerable controversy since it appeared to allude to broken, upside-down government policies during a time of civil unrest.<ref name="nixon">{{cite news |last1=Kelly |first1=John |title=Nixon fingerprints missing from provocative sculpture's relocation |newspaper=Washington Post |date=March 7, 2010}}</ref>
In 1969, Harithas initiated a new approach to the Corcoran Biennial. The 31st Biennial changed the tone, direction, and process that would govern subsequent biennials. He ended the former juried selection process, taking full responsibility for inviting all participants. He also reconfigured the exhibition format, creating twenty-three separate solo exhibitions stationed throughout the museum. The show continued to focus on abstract color painting, but Harithas concentrated on younger artists who had rarely been seen in a museum context and artists who had made significant contributions to American painting but had received little recognition.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Forty-Fifth Biennial, The Corcoran Collects, 1907–1998 |url=https://www.nga.gov/content/dam/ngaweb/research/publications/pdfs/the-corcoran-collects.pdf |website=National Gallery of Art |access-date=2 April 2023}}</ref>
After nine months as director, Harithas wore out his welcome at the Corcoran and went back to New York, where he taught at Hunter College and the School of Visual Arts."<ref name="local" /> When Harithas left, Barnett Newman removed Broken Obelisk in a show of solidarity. The sculpture would eventually end up at the Rothko Chapel in Houston.<ref name="nixon" />
== Everson Museum of Art ==
From 1971 to 1974 Harithas served as the Everson Museum of Art's director in Syracuse, New York. He later said some of best work was done there: one-person shows of Nam June Paik, Joan Mitchell, Norman Bluhm, Marilyn Minter, and Hermann Nitsch, and activist programs featuring Daniel Berrigan and Leonard Crow Dog.<ref name="rail" />
In 1972, he gave Yoko Ono her first museum show ''This is Not Here''. At the time, very few women were getting shows. Harithas also thought the Fluxus movement she represented was important. The exhibition involved the entirety of the museum. Yoko invited fifty other artists, including John Lennon, to participate.<ref name="james">{{cite web |last1=James |first1=Gary |title=Gary James' Interview With The Former Director Of The Everson Museum James Harithas |url=http://www.classicbands.com/JamesHarithasInterview.html |website=ClassicBands.com |access-date=29 March 2023}}</ref>
Also notable was the 1973 solo exhibition of Elaine Sturtevant, ''Sturtevant: Studies done for Beuys’ Action and objects, Duchamps’ etc. Including film''. Of Sturtevant, Harithas is attributed to have said, “She's as much a mystic and as mysterious a character as you'd want to find in the art world.”<ref name="sturtevant">{{cite web |title=Jim Harithas |url=https://observer.com/2012/05/the-original-doing-the-elastic-tango-with-sturtevant/|website=observer.com |date=8 May 2012 |access-date=23 December 2024}}</ref>
Upon arrival in Syracuse, Harithas hired David Ross, a recent university graduate, as the Everson's Curator of Video Art. The job was the first such position anywhere in the country. Harithas and Ross turned the Everson into a hub of video art. Nam June Paik and Charlotte Moorman performed an early version of Paik's iconic ''Video Cello'' in 1972.<ref name="everson">{{cite web |title=Jim Harithas |url=https://everson.org/news/jim-harithas/ |website=everson.org |access-date=31 March 2023}}</ref>(Ross went on to helm the Boston Institute of Contemporary Art, the Whitney Museum, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.) In 1973, the Everson hosted a month-long, solo exhibition featuring the work of video artist Frank Gillette. Part of Harithas’ endeavor to make the museum a pioneer institution for the medium, the show was the first to devote all four upper galleries to a video artist.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Teschler |first1=Maggie |title=From the Archives: Frank Gillette, Tarantulas, and Chickens |url=https://everson.org/from-the-archives/from-the-archives-frank-gillette-tarantulas-and-chickens/ |website=Everson Museum of Art|date=5 April 2019 }}</ref>
Harithas also spent considerable time working with Central New York's prison population. During the Attica riots, he taught classes at Auburn Correctional Facility, mentoring artists such as Juan Alberto Cruz. Harithas believed a prison fine arts program could offer a "creative framework within which the student can explore his visual and intellectual relationship to the ‘inside’ as well as the ‘outside’ and dispel or deal with irrational or unaccountable fantasies."<ref>{{cite web |title=Art in Prison |url=https://www.library.ucsb.edu/events-exhibitions/exhibitions/art-prison |website=UC Santa Barbara Library |date=10 April 2015 |access-date=1 April 2023}}</ref> A 1973 Smithsonian exhibition titled ''From Within'' grew out of the program.<ref name="everson" />
Harithas left the Everson in 1974 for the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston. While he was reasonably happy in Syracuse, relocation would provide a gateway to Mexico and South America which he was keen to explore. He also had family ties to the region.<ref name="pete" />
==Contemporary Arts Museum Houston (CAMH)==
Colleagues told Harithas a move to Houston was too far from the mainstream art world and would ruin his career.<ref name="hyper">{{cite web |last1=Boyd |first1=Kealey |title=Tracing the Rise of Houston's Art Community |url=https://hyperallergic.com/519833/tracing-the-rise-of-houstons-art-community/ |website=Hyperallergic |date=19 November 2019 |access-date=27 March 2023}}</ref> But he saw it as a challenge that also fulfilled a need to escape New York City's sphere of influence and to think of art “as a fundamental activity rather than a geopolitical hustle.”<ref name="pete" />
During his tenure at the CAMH (1974–1978), the museum functioned almost as an alternative space, in part because it could little afford to do much else. Harithas focused intently on supporting and showcasing Texas artists. The exhibitions were inexpensive to mount and offered rich soil for the growth of local talent.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ennis |first1=Michael |title=On with the Shows |date=May 1997}}</ref>
The first show he organized was ''Art of the Lower Crust'', an exhibition of work by museum staff members.<ref name="hyper" /> A follow-up exhibit ''12/Texas'' brought national recognition to several of the dozen participants.<ref name="tsha">{{cite web |last1=Johnson |first1=Sally |title=Contemporary Arts Museum |url=https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/contemporary-arts-museum |website=Texas State Historical Association |access-date=31 March 2023}}</ref> Texas artists receiving solo shows, frequently their first in the context of a museum, included: Dick Wray, James Surls, Dorothy Hood, Luis Jimenez, Terry Allen, John Alexander, and Mel Casas. The show ''Dále Gas'', organized by artist and CAMH curator Santos Martinez Jr. at Harithas' request, was the first major museum exhibition of Chicano art in Texas.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Martinez Jr. |first1=Santos |last2=Harithas |first2=James |title=Dále Gas: An Exhibition of Contemporary Chicano Art |url=https://issuu.com/thecamh/docs/1977_dale_gas-_excerpt |website=ISSUU |date=11 December 2013 |access-date=2 April 2023}}</ref>
In February 1976, Harithas presented transplanted Texan Julian Schnabel's first solo show in the CAMH's Lower Gallery.<ref>{{cite web |title=Julian Schnabel |url=https://camh.org/event/julian-schnabel/ |website=Contemporary Arts Museum Houston |access-date=28 March 2023 |archive-date=28 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230328170724/https://camh.org/event/julian-schnabel/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> In June of that year, a flash flood filled the lower level with nine feet of water, damaging gallery and office spaces, and destroying artwork on display and in storage.<ref>{{cite web |title=Houston Museums Sustain Damage in Floods |url=https://www.artforum.com/news/-1244 |website=Artforum |access-date=31 March 2023}}</ref> Harithas and artist John Alexander donned scuba gear in an attempt to salvage artwork, but dozens of paintings, sculptures, and artifacts were irreparably damaged.<ref name="pete" />
The museum closed for months while building repairs were made. Houstonians responded with generous donations and a fund-raising drive that enabled the space to reopen in March 1977.<ref name="tsha" />
Flush with post-flood cash, Harithas mounted a series of ambitious projects. A retrospective of sculptor Sal Scarpitta's work filled the upper gallery with large, wrapped, resin-soaked canvases and "sleds," detailed reproductions of race cars and the recreation of a 1940s Italian tank. Light sculptor Dale Eldred installed his ''Solar Sculpture'' in the upper gallery and on the museum's corrugated metal exterior. (The museum closed for a month while 4,000 120-ft. long steel filaments painted in fluorescent colors were hung from the gallery's ceiling and an 8,000 ft. by 20 ft. mylar banner was attached to the facade.)<ref name="pete" /> In October 1977, Harithas brought in multidisciplinary artist Antoni Miralda, whose installations, performances, and happenings focused on food: the culture, politics, and ritual of what we eat.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Wales |first1=Suzanne |title=How I live: Catalan artist Antoni Miralda |url=https://thespaces.com/how-i-live-catalan-artist-antoni-miralda/ |website=The Spaces |date=8 November 2017 |access-date=1 April 2023}}</ref>
Miralda's CAMH installation ''Breadline'' included photographs of food, as well as videos of the preparation and consumption of food at local restaurants. (Similarly to his tenure at the Everson, Harithas had hired a CAMH videographer.) The Kilgore Rangerettes drill team were brought in for opening night to perform their high-kicks routine and carry trays of rainbow-hued bread loaves from the CAMH's lower level to a 175-ft. long row of benches in the main gallery. As soon as a troublemaker threw a loaf, the event descended into a massive food and fist fight that spilled into the street.<ref name="local" />
The ''Breadline'' debacle combined with dwindling funds and lack of faith in Harithas' leadership led the board to hire a business manager with tacit power over the director at a salary equal to his. (The fact Harithas had proposed to include the writings of Charles Manson in an upcoming show did not help.) The board even contemplated whether the CAMH should exist at all and considered merging with the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Incensed at the idea of a co-director, Harithas tendered his resignation in May 1978.<ref name="pete" />
==Ann Harithas==
Shortly after his arrival in Houston, Harithas met his second wife, Ann O'Connor Williams Robinson. Born into a prominent Texas oil and ranching family, Ann had been interested in art since childhood.<ref name="pete" /> With her first husband, she established Galerie Ann in Houston in 1970. When they divorced in 1977, she took over the space, renaming it Robinson Galleries. Her first collaboration with the CAMH was a post-flood exhibition, arranged by Harithas, of her Kachina doll collection. She also made generous donations to the museum.<ref name="pete" />
In September 1978, she and Jim married.<ref name="obit">{{cite web |last1=Fuentes |first1=Jessica |title=Ann Harithas, 1941 – 2021 |url=https://glasstire.com/2021/12/30/ann-harithas-1941-2021/ |website=Glasstire |date=30 December 2021 |access-date=28 March 2023}}</ref> The pair would be the Houston art scene's power couple for decades to come, devoting themselves to local and regional artists as well as those working with politically- and socially-engaged content.<ref name="local"/>
==Art Car Museum== thumb|ArtCarMuseum With Ann, Harithas founded the Art Car Museum, aka ''Garage Mahal'', in 1998. The private, not-for-profit arts center is dedicated to contemporary art. The museum's mission is to serve as "an exhibition forum for local, national and international artists with an emphasis on art cars, other fine arts and artists that are rarely, if ever, acknowledged by other cultural institutions."<ref name="car">{{cite web |title=About Us |url=https://www.artcarmuseum.com/about-us/ |website=Art Car Museum |access-date=31 March 2023}}</ref>
The couple were early supporters of the Art Car Movement. Curated by Ann Harithas, the ''Collision'' show at Lawndale Art Center (1984), showcased Larry Fuente's ''Mad Cad'', a beaded, sequined 1960 Cadillac Sedan de Ville commissioned by Ann. She later constructed the art car ''Swamp Mutha'', from a 1982 Monte Carlo, with Jesse Lott. This interest would ultimately manifest in the Art Car Museum and an annual Art Car Parade.<ref name="car" />
As with all of Jim and Ann Harithas' venues, the Art Car Museum fearlessly presented overtly political work. The week after 9/11, the museum opened an exhibition against the George W. Bush administration's international policies. When the FBI and Secret Service tried to interfere with the show, the community objected. A lead editorial in the Houston Chronicle suggested the FBI stay out of the art world and look for terrorists elsewhere.<ref name="rail" />
==Station Museum of Contemporary Art==
Ann and Jim established the Station Museum of Contemporary Art in 2001 with the goal of providing "a resource that deepens and broadens public awareness of the cultural, political, economic, and personal dimensions of art."<ref name="closes">{{cite web |last1=Fuentes |first1=Jessica |title=Station Museum of Contemporary Art Closes Until Further Notice |url=https://glasstire.com/2022/12/15/station-museum-of-contemporary-art-closes-until-further-notice/ |website=Glasstire |date=15 December 2022 |access-date=28 March 2023}}</ref>
Without a governing board, Harithas was free to follow his curatorial passions: the work of local artists or groups of outsider artists, often that of underrepresented or undiscovered voices of protest.<ref name="closes" /> During its 20 years of operation, the Station Museum mounted shows that dealt with the concerns of Palestinians, Iraqis, the LGBTQ community, people of color, Indigenous Americans and others who question "society's morality and ethics.”<ref>{{cite web |title=Past Exhibitions |url=https://www.stationmuseum.com/past-exhibitions/ |website=Station Museum of Contemporary Art |access-date=2 April 2023}}</ref>
Most Station Museum shows took a strong political stand, which Harithas sought to merge with imagery that went beyond mere illustration. In the best of these, Harithas said, the work becomes "a window to a world where politics and the aesthetic dimension [are] unified."<ref name="rail" />
The results could be controversial. In June 2017, a group of protestors gathered outside the museum to protest an exhibition of Andres Serrano staged "torture" photographs. In particular, they objected to the display of the infamous 1987 photograph ''Immersion (Piss Christ)'', which was also in the show. The museum was aware of the protest before it started, and posted to its Facebook page prior to the demonstration's start: "We support the freedom to gather and to speak truth to power, and would like to invite our community to come out and show their support for the Station Museum to uphold freedom of speech and freedom of expression."<ref>{{cite web |title=Protestors Gathered Yesterday Against the Station Museum's Andres Serrano Exhibition |url=https://glasstire.com/2017/06/25/protestors-gathered-yesterday-against-the-station-museums-andres-serrano-exhibition/ |website=Glasstire |date=25 June 2017 |access-date=2 April 2023}}</ref>
==Five Points Museum of Contemporary Art==
In 2016, the couple opened a third private museum. The Five Points Museum in Victoria, Texas, also focuses on contemporary art and hosts its own Art Car Parade.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Shey |first1=Brittanie |title=James Harithas, Art Car Museum founder and Houston icon, dead at 90 |url=https://www.chron.com/culture/arts/article/james-harithas-obituary-17862580.php |website=Chron. |date=27 March 2023 |access-date=28 March 2023}}</ref> Community outreach and arts education are part of the institution's mission.<ref>{{cite web |title=Mission & History |url=https://www.fivepointsmuseum.com/mission-history/ |website=Five Points Museum of Contemporary Art |access-date=2 April 2023}}</ref>
Exhibitions at the Five Points largely involve art cars, but the museum has hosted work by some of Harithas' favorite activist artists, including Mel Chin and Clark V. Fox. Live theater and film screenings are also offered.<ref>{{cite web |title=Previous Exhibitions |url=https://www.fivepointsmuseum.com/category/previous-exhibitions/ |website=Five Points Museum of Contemporary Art |access-date=2 April 2023}}</ref>
==Later years==
Harithas remained fully engaged with the Station Museum until his death. He gave a 2022 interview and produced a catalog for ''Clark V. Fox: Subversion and Spectacle'', the last show in the space.<ref>{{cite web |title=Clark V. Fox: Subversion and Spectacle |url=https://glasstire.com/events/2022/01/04/clark-v-fox-subversion-and-spectacle/ |website=Glasstire |access-date=31 March 2023}}</ref> In November 2022, the museum staff announced the facility would be on hiatus from public exhibitions and programming until further notice (effectively closing the museum).<ref>{{cite web |title=Dear Friends of the Station Museum of Contemporary Art |url=https://www.stationmuseum.com/ |website=Station Museum of Contemporary Art |access-date=27 March 2023}}</ref>
Late in life, he told a reporter, "I like to show things that are way out on the edge and see what the result is...If you follow the history of art, you see that contributions are made very often at the edges by somebody who has kind of broken through with a different idea... Modern Art has moved away from the idea that you have to draw a certain way or illustrate a certain way in order to be an artist. An artist is just somebody that expounds something passionately as far as I'm concerned. You know, visually through his art, using whatever materials he wants."<ref name="james" />
Harithas died in Houston on March 23, 2023, at the age of 90.<ref name="tire" />
==References== {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Harithas, James}} Category:1932 births Category:2023 deaths Category:American art curators Category:Directors of museums in the United States Category:Museum founders Category:People from Lewiston, Maine