Gisela Richter


Gisela Marie Augusta Richter, was a classical archaeologist and art historian. Gisela Richter was a prominent figure and an authority in her field.

Early life

Gisela Richter was born in London, England, the daughter of Jean Paul and Louise Richter. Both of her parents and her sister, Irma, were art historians specialised in Italian Renaissance. She was educated at Maida Vale School, one of the finest schools for women at the time. She decided to become a classical archaeologist while attending Emmanuel Loewy's lectures at the University of Rome around 1896. In 1901, she attended Girton College at the University of Cambridge, which she left in 1904 without a degree, since women at the time could not graduate and spent a year at the British School at Athens between 1904-1905. Gisela Richter moved to the U.S. in 1905 and became an American citizen in 1917.

Career

Gisela Richter joined the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York as an assistant in 1905, where she was asked to create a catalogue for a collection of Greek vases recently acquired by the Met from the Canessa Brothers, the famous European art dealers. She became assistant curator in 1910, promoted to associate curator in 1922, and curator of Greek and Roman art in 1925, a position held until 1948 when she retired. Gisela Richter became honorary curator until her death in 1972. Gisela Richter became the first woman to hold the title of 'curator' at the Met when she was appointed to the post in 1925. As curator, she was one of the most influential people in classical art history at the time.
She lectured at Columbia University, Yale University, Bryn Mawr College, and Oberlin College. As author of numerous popular books on classical art, she had a great influence on the general public's understanding and appreciation of the subject. In 1944, she received the Achievement Award from the American Association of University Women. In 1952, Gisela Richter was awarded the degree of Doctor of Letters by the University of Oxford. In 1968, she received the Gold Medal Award for Distinguished Archaeological Achievement from the Archaeological Institute of America.

Death and legacy

In 1952, Richter moved to Rome, Italy, where she died in 1972. She is buried in Rome's Cimitero acattolico. Writing 30 years after Richter's death, Camille Paglia paid tribute to her "for her clarity and rigor of mind; her fineness of sensibility and connoisseurship; her attention to detail and her power of observation and deduction; her mastery of form and design".

Selected publications