Above: Robert Hughes in New York, where he lived and wrote for Time magazine from 1970. Photograph: Jeremy Pollard/Oxford Film/TV
Robert Hughes, a critic who came to be known as the scourge of many 'modern' artists, has died.
Whatever your feelings about critics, his writing was always provocatively interesting.
An art professor who I correspond with commented, "I disagreed and had issues with a number of his opinions and arguments, but when he was on point he could be very inspiring. I would show clips of his "Shock of the New" and "American Visions" videos (along with the writing) in my Art History classes and they never failed to capture students' attention and get them interested in the subject."
Another friend who works as a painter in Ontario, Canada, wrote, "He was a great curmudgeon. His critique of market-driven art hype was bitter but largely accurate, I think. He was conservative but not reactionary... I'll miss his gruff, sometimes brutal art critiques."
"Gruff, sometimes brutal," seems to be a widely-held opinion of the man who was the chief art critic behind TIME magazine for 30 years, and often a traditionalist scourge during an era when art movements fractured into unrecognizability. He had opinions, and seemed to have no fear of making hamburger out of the art world's sacred cows. In 1993, he described the era's darling of the New York contemporary art world, Jeff Koons, as “so overexposed that it loses nothing in reproduction and gains nothing in the original.”
“Koons is the baby to Andy Warhol’s Rosemary,” he summarized, adding: “He has done for narcissism what Michael Milken did for the junk bond."
While I have no doubt that many contemporary artists will not mourn his passing, I have to respect the fearlessness of a man who is willing to openly point out when the emperor has no clothes.
While I have no doubt that many contemporary artists will not mourn his passing, I have to respect the fearlessness of a man who is willing to openly point out when the emperor has no clothes.
