THIS WEEK'S HOT TOPIC
There’s an old joke: The thing about being a journalist is that the hours are bad and the pay sucks, but at least at the end of the day, everybody hates you.
This is doubly true for critics—a lonely offshoot in the genus of journalism—and one of the many reasons why they have become an endangered species in recent years. Art critics, in particular, are nearly extinct. Their jobs have disappeared; so have the magazines and websites that once platformed their work. The loss is alarming—and not just because we belong to the group.
Critics play an essential role in the art ecosystem. They are interpreters, informers, and influencers; they translate and broadcast the good word of art for audiences outside of the echo chamber. Critics constitute the opposing force that artists need to push against in order to evolve and iterate. They are among the few independent voices remaining, filtering art through emotion, history, and politics rather than spreadsheets. The more these writers disappear, the more the art world will be dictated by PR reps and dealers—people whose primary goal is not to enlighten us, but to sell us things.
Many critics would say that this is already the case—and it has been for a long time. Art, after all, is like any other commodity: if it doesn’t make money, it doesn’t make sense. But it has value beyond money, of course, and criticism is one of the main ways we access it.
It’s more important than ever to support the critics of the art world. Read and engage with their work. Share it. Subscribe. It’s okay—maybe even helpful—if you hate them in the process.
3…THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT GETTING INTO ART CRITICISM
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When it comes to art criticism, a few books belong on every reading list. John Berger's Ways of Seeing remains the quintessential introduction for college art history students and collectors alike. Berger explores the history of art through the perspective of the viewer, famously examining the male gaze and its influence on cultural aesthetics.
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Few critics have influenced contemporary art writing more than longtime New Yorker critic Peter Schjeldahl. His anthology Hot, Cold, Heavy, Light: 100 Art Writings, 1988–2018 gathers three decades of incisive criticism spanning the Old Masters to contemporary art. Written with wit, poetic clarity, and deep knowledge, the collection offers a masterclass in looking closely.
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Linda Nochlin's groundbreaking essay Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?, also available as a standalone book from Verso, is another essential read. First published in 1971, it transformed art history by arguing that women's exclusion from the canon stemmed not from a lack of talent, but from systemic barriers that shaped who had the opportunity to succeed.
A NUMBER TO KNOW
$2.4 million
The final price (with fees) for the original working manuscript of the Alcoholics Anonymous handbook, the founding document of the 12-step program. Offered by Christie’s in a July 1 sale of historic objects from the collection of the late Indianapolis Colts owner, Jim Irsay, this early iteration of the “Big Book,” as it’s known in recovery circles, broke through its high estimate of $2 million—and became the latest evidence of the bustling market for important books and manuscripts.
The category generated $17.7 million in online-only auctions at Christie’s and Sotheby’s during the first half of this year, per data from ArtTactic. (Phillips does not have a books and manuscripts department.) The total represented a year-over-year sales surge of +93.1% by value, making books and manuscripts the fastest-growing tranche of collectibles in the Big Three auction houses’ exclusively digital sales.
No surprise, the competition has been even fiercer for similar material offered in live auctions. Christie’s totalled nearly $11 million (with fees) from Irsay’s “Icons of History” sale. Although not every object offered there was a book or manuscript, two other historic documents joined the working version of the “Big Book” by cracking $2 million after fees. The others included a letter signed by George Washington to Thomas Jefferson introducing a first printing of the US Constitution ($2.8 million)—the Constitution itself was absent from the lot—and the first official copy of the signed Declaration of Independence ($2 million).
The sale proceeds from Irsay’s working manuscript of “Big Book” will benefit philanthropic causes chosen by the late collector’s family. But given the heat building around historic reading materials, anyone else in possession of examples must be wondering how much consigning them could benefit their own goals.
—Tim Schneider / The Gray Market
ASK: ACCESS SOPHISTICATED KNOWLEDGE
We ASKed: Do good or bad reviews still impact an artist’s market like they used to?
Josh Baer for NoReserve: Art criticism used to matter a whole lot. I can even say that my parents' custody battle over me moving to New York with my mother rested on the shoulders of someone who verified that she was a serious artist.
Back then, the gatekeepers were the critics, especially Clement Greenberg. They weighed in before the collectors and often before museum curators, too. Alas, these days, critics get to speak last and hence have less power.
Being in the New York Times was, for art galleries, almost as critical as a Broadway show being reviewed by the newspaper’s sole theater reporter; a yay or nay could close almost any production. A bad review led to cancellations of art sales within hours of being published in the city. That, too, is no longer the case.
I laugh because 30 or 40 years ago, magazines like Elle (where my wife used to be a creative director) and Vogue were irrelevant to artists and the art world. My, how that has changed. And let's not get started on what social media does now.
As my favorite cultural critic, Yogi Berra, said: "You can observe a lot just by watching."
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2 MINUTES WITH…
Iconoclasm used to be a central tenet of criticism. Now, among brand-name writers, only a precious few practice the art. New York critic Jerry Saltz is one of them. He took an unlikely path to the profession, and it comes through in his distinct, irreverent voice. Contemplating the state of criticism this week, we immediately thought about our 2023 podcast with Saltz. The whole thing is worth a listen, but we’ve highlighted a few particularly juicy nuggets from the Pulitzer Prize-winner below.
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