Collects 100 key writings by Peter Schjeldahl spanning thirty years, his last twenty as the art critic of the "New Yorker." In this unfailingly lucid guide to an art world in constant, dramatic flux, Schjeldahl addresses new artists and Old Masters with the same pitch of acuity, empathy, and wit. No other writer enhances the reader's experience of art in precise, jargon-free prose as he does, with reviews that are as much essay a criticism. Implicit in Schjeldahl's role as a frontline critic is a focus on artists, issues, and events of urgent relevance to the culture at large. The book tells us why we still care about Rembrandt and Mantegna, Matisse and Picasso; takes the measure of contemporaries Basquiat and Holzer, Polke and Kiefer, Sherman and Koons; introduces us to newcomers Kerry James Marshall and Laura Owens; and salutes rediscoveries of Florine Stettheimer, Hélio Oiticica, and Peter Hujar. The book provides essential knowledge to anyone curious about the character, quality, and consequence of art today. The pieces in the book were compiled and arranged by the critic Jarrett Earnest, with an ear attuned to Schjeldahl's range of voices.
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