Art Is Life: Icons & Iconoclasts, Visionaries & Vigilantes, & Flashes of Hope in the Night

Pulitzer Prize–winning art critic Saltz (How to Be an Artist) lays out a smorgasbord of more than 80 of his provocative articles and essays from outlets such as the Village Voice and New York magazine. Penetrating insights are offered on an impressive range of artists, from Georgia O’Keeffe (who should be freed from the “erotic ghetto”) to George W. Bush, Cindy Sherman (Saltz is a convert), Thomas Kinkade, Norman Rockwell (Saltz is not a fan), and Helen Frankenthaler. Trenchant opinions on museums (now increasingly “platforms for spectacle”), gallery attendants (the unsung heroes of the art world ), auction houses (“nothing to do with quality”), “power broker” curators, and many other aspects of the constantly evolving art world are shot through. Highlights include a detailed analysis of Andy Warhol’s place in contemporary art and a thoughtful piece entitled “What the Hell Was Modernism?” Saltz responds to art intellectually and aesthetically, but also viscerally and emotionally; art, to him, is indeed life in all its abundance and diversity. And his prose holds up: eminently accessible, often humorous (he is a master of the sharp parenthetical aside), and stimulating. The art world is convoluted, but Saltz cuts right through it. Agent: Chris Calhoun, Chris Calhoun Agency. (Nov.)