The function of a critic is changing, but the art world is not. Jane Morris surveys the landscape of art criticism and asks whether it is facing an identity crisis.
'The inherent tension in the relationship between artists and critics rarely reaches boiling point. In 1877, the American painter James Abbott McNeill Whistler took the unusual step of suing British critic John Ruskin for libel over a particularly damning review while artist Donald Judd, who wrote for Art News and Arts Magazine from 1959 to 1965, quite liked sharpening his pen on fellow artists (he described Picasso’s work in a 1963 Whitney show as “glib and corny” and dismissed Lygia Clark in an insultingly brief—34-word—review).
But incidents like this are rare. So, the degree of heat generated in the coverage of this year’s Whitney Biennial has taken many people both within and outside New York’s hothouse art scene by surprise. The debate is raising questions over the state of art criticism, particularly about who writes it—and what (and who) it is for.' ... Keep reading on Art Agency Partners
'The inherent tension in the relationship between artists and critics rarely reaches boiling point. In 1877, the American painter James Abbott McNeill Whistler took the unusual step of suing British critic John Ruskin for libel over a particularly damning review while artist Donald Judd, who wrote for Art News and Arts Magazine from 1959 to 1965, quite liked sharpening his pen on fellow artists (he described Picasso’s work in a 1963 Whitney show as “glib and corny” and dismissed Lygia Clark in an insultingly brief—34-word—review).
But incidents like this are rare. So, the degree of heat generated in the coverage of this year’s Whitney Biennial has taken many people both within and outside New York’s hothouse art scene by surprise. The debate is raising questions over the state of art criticism, particularly about who writes it—and what (and who) it is for.' ... Keep reading on Art Agency Partners