Martha Schwendender, Visiting Critic

Visiting Art Critic

Martha Schwendender

of the 

New York Times

at R.I.T. this week

Martha Schwendender visited Rochester Institute of Technology on Thursday to give a public talk, which she announced was her "boilerplate" introduction to her work as an art critic for the paper of record, "The New York Times".  At R.I.T. in the past I have invited a variety of art critics to come and visit including Barry Schwabsky from The Nation, Jed Perl who now writes for The New York Review of Books,  Bill Zimmer and Michael Kimmelman who also are associated with The New York Times,

this was over the span of about ten years. 

Martha has also written art reviews for The New Yorker, and Artforum and The Brooklyn Rail among others and she recently received her Ph.D in Art History from the City University of New York, so she knows her way around the art world.  One of her specialties is photography and she has been writing reviews of shows since the early 1990's.

Jasper Johns "The Art Critic"

Early in her talk at R.I.T., Martha offered some highlights of the art critic's life as seen in the creative works of visual artists ( and there is so much to choose from ).  The little sculpture by Jasper Johns features a pair of glasses with two mouths where the eyes should be- and it is a witty clue to his feelings for the art critic.  Being an art critic and getting paid for this work in the digital age is becoming rare indeed, but Martha seems to be doing alright, and I read her work regularly in the paper and am thankful she gets around to seeing as much as she does ( and writes the reviews ).

Painting by Elena Sisto

from her recent show reviewed by Martha Schwendener

in 

The New York Times

What I learned from this talk was that Martha was also engaged by the Occupy movement in New York City and also what that movement came to stand for within the cultural institutions such as The Museum of Modern Art.  Martha talked about shows that have also made a big impression on her and she brought along a selection of images from shows she has recently reviewed.  All in all a very worthwhile talk, and a way to catch up on current events and trends in the Big Apple..