Displaying items by tag: critic

The architect Zaha Hadid has settled her case against the New York Review of Books and critic Martin Filler, and donated the settlement money to an undisclosed charity that “protects and champions labor rights,” dezeen magazine reported on Tuesday. Ms. Hadid had filed the libel suit in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan last August.

In his June review of Rowan Moore’s “Why We Build: Power and Desire in Architecture,” Mr. Filler wrote that Ms. Hadid “unashamedly disavowed any responsibility, let alone concern” for an “estimated one thousand laborers who have perished” while building the Al Wakrah stadium she designed for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

The New York Review of Books on Monday night issued a retraction from its architecture critic over an article criticizing British-Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid for her attitude to construction worker deaths in Qatar.

The magazine published a statement on its website in which the author of the article, Martin Filler, said he regretted his error.

Hadid began proceedings for defamation against the magazine and Filler at Manhattan supreme court last week.

Upon her death on January 7, 2013 at the age of 91, Ada Louise Huxtable (1921-2013), a pioneering architecture critic, writer and historian, left her entire estate and her archives to the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles. The bequest also included an apartment in New York City, a house in Marblehead, MA, and the archives of Huxtable’s husband, industrial designer, Garth Huxtable (1911-1989).  Huxtable served as the architecture critic for the New York Times from 1963 to 1982 (she was the first full-time architecture critic at an American newspaper) and as a writer for the Wall Street Journal.

The Huxtable Archives, which include notes, correspondence, research files, manuscripts, drawings, and photography, will become part of the Getty’s Special Collections holdings. Huxtable, a proponent of historic preservation, will have her own groundbreaking work conserved for the benefit of the public and the field of architecture thanks to her partnership with the Getty.

David Hickey, one of America’s foremost art critics is known for his acerbic commentary, but his latest tirade against the world of modern art is downright scathing. Hickey, a professor, curator, and author, told the Observer that he will be walking away from contemporary art, a genre he says has been ruined by rich collectors who are more concerned with money and celebrity than quality.

Hickey claims that art editors and critics have lost their edge, spending more time catering to the wealthy people who hold the reigns on the contemporary art market than surveying the actual work (which he says is also lacking). Hickey is not alone in this claim. A number of contemporary art curators, museums, and galleries have deemed the work of such artists as Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin, and Antony Gormley bloated and empty – the result of too much fame and not enough criticism. While the notion of the artist as celebrity is not new, today’s market is saturated with it and gaining status has taken precedence over making revolutionary, ground-breaking art.

A former dealer, Hickey is attuned to considering art in monetary terms but his objections stem from his belief that contemporary art has become too broad, too elitist, and lacks discretion. Hickey’s retirement will remove an important critical voice from the equation. He plans to complete a book on the pagan roots of America, aptly titled Pagan America, as well as a book of essays titled Pirates and Framers.

Twelve years ago, Rene Magritte’s five-volume catalogue raisonné was published. Overseen by British critic, David Sylvester, the project prompted hundreds of individuals to submit what they claimed to be works by Magritte to the Magritte Foundation. Drowning in potential yet unconfirmed works, a committee formed to vet each of the newly surfaced works.

 As it turns out, many of the submissions proved to be authentic and they have been assembled in the book, René Magritte: Newly Discovered Works, Catalogue Raisonné VI. Published by the Menil Foundation, Mercatourfonds, and the Magritte Foundation, the book is being distributed by Yale University Press and features 130 of the finds including paintings as well as works on paper. Several of the pieces were known to exist but could never be located.

 A Belgian surrealist, Magritte became well known for his witty and thought-provoking images, many of which feature black bowler hats, apples, curvaceous pipes, and bright blue skies. Coincidentally, the Museum of Modern Art is organizing Magritte: The Mystery of the Ordinary 1926–1938, the first major show to explore the artist’s early Surrealist period. Curated by Anne Umland, the show will open at MoMA next September and will travel to the Menil in Houston and the Art Institute of Chicago.