Art Criticism and Its Enemies

The New School
Theresa Lang Community and Student Center
55 West 13th Street, 2nd floor
New York City, New York

Monday, Nov. 10, 2008 - 7 p.m.
AICA* Lecture: Linda Nochlin “Art Criticism and Its Enemies”

"In her far-reaching exploration of the art critic’s insights into every aspect of contemporary art, including performance, installation and video, Linda Nochlin pointedly refutes those who doubt the ability of art critics to assess the range of new media. In the course of this examination, she also distinguishes between the goals of the art critic and those of the art historian in terms of audiences and intention. What are the obligations of the critic, and what are the pleasures in writing criticism? Nochlin concludes this probing analysis with references to her own approach as a critic considering a wide range of artists, from Courbet and Manet through Lucien Freud, Jenny Saville and Sam Taylor-Wood.

Dr. Linda Nochlin is the Lila Acheson Wallace Professor of Modern Art at the Institute of Fine Arts/New York University. She has previously held professorial chairs at Yale, at the City University of New York, and at Vassar College.

* AICA: Association Internationale des Critiques d’Art

[still from The Last Century (2005) by Sam Taylor-Wood]