The artwork critic Christopher Knight has is retiring after greater than 40 years on the job, 36 of them on the Los Angeles Instances. His closing day shall be 28 November.
One of many final full-time artwork critics left at a US every day newspaper, Knight has been a famend, incisive voice within the artwork world for practically half a century. He obtained a Pulitzer Prize for criticism in 2020 and a $50,000 Lifetime Achievement Award for Artwork Journalism from the Dorothea and Leo Rabkin Basis the identical 12 months.
“It’s not possible to overstate the loss Knight’s departure represents for the paper and Los Angeles, or what a tireless, beneficiant, inspiring colleague he’s,” Los Angeles Instances employees author Jessica Gelt wrote of her colleague in a latest column. “He possesses a quiet, encyclopaedic data of artwork, and in column after column he related the dots of tradition, historical past, folklore, civics and psychology in razor-sharp assessments of what a chunk of artwork actually means, or how a selected exhibition is poised to vary the narrative round a longstanding or misguided concept. In brief, he’s every little thing a very glorious critic ought to be.”
Knight, who was a three-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize earlier than his final win, was recommended by the organisation for “work demonstrating extraordinary neighborhood service by a critic, making use of his experience and enterprise to critique a proposed overhaul of the Los Angeles County Museum of Artwork (Lacma) and its impact on the establishment’s mission”. 5 of the ten articles listed as his successful work targeted on the Swiss architect Peter Zumthor’s designs for a brand new Lacma constructing—the $720m David Geffen Galleries, opening subsequent spring—together with: “An open letter to Lacma architect Peter Zumthor: Cease dissing LA’s artwork.”
In 1997, the Faculty Artwork Affiliation awarded Knight the coveted Frank Jewett Mather Award for artwork criticism, the primary time a journalist had gained the excellence in 25 years. He additionally revealed two books of his work; an anthology, Final Probability for Eden: Chosen Artwork Criticism, 1979-1994and Artwork of the Sixties and Seventies: the Panza Assortment, which explores the holdings of the Italian industrialist Depend Giuseppe Panza di Biumo. Knight additionally repeatedly appeared as a speaking head in cultural conversations on broadcast media, together with 60 Minutes on CBS and NewsHour on PBS. He was additionally featured within the 2009 documentary on the Barnes Basis, Artwork of the Steal, and the 2025 documentary on Thomas Kincade, Artwork for Everybody.
In an e mail to Hyperallergic, Knight wrote: “I am going to preserve writing, however after 45 years the every day journalism factor is completed.” He added: “It has been a privilege, and it has been enjoyable (largely). Bless the readers!”
