Category: Critic
Nationality: American
Last Year: 71
Now in her 23rd year at The New York Times, the paper’s chief art critic remains our clearest and rangiest day-today critic. In two consecutive days in September alone, the paper first ran Smith’s multi-interview financial investigation of Manhattan’s art scene and then her inventively lyrical piece on Monet (one panel of Water Lilies conversing with others like ‘a glissando of violins’). If dilettantism is easy, mastering the big picture and the glimmering detail isn’t; Smith simply makes it look that way.