D'Harnoncourt, Count René (1901–1968)

Austrian-born museum director. On emigrating to Mexico, he became interested in Mexican folk art. He settled in New York City, becoming head of the Indian Arts and Crafts Board in Washington, DC, and art director of the Museum of Modern Art.

He was born in Vienna, studied chemistry at the University of Graz, Austria, and attended the Technische Hochschule, Vienna. He organized major travelling exhibitions of Mexican art to America. When he settled in New York City, he dropped the use of his title, and he became known as an authority on primitive art.