Dec 22 11
Best of 2011 for Frieze
1. Michael Baxandall.
Because he received new messages, in picture writing. Because he dilated what art-historians bring under their tiny microscopes. Because his ‘version of Art history goes beyond aesthetic judgment (“this picture is pretty”) and, when done right, it also goes beyond mere interpretation (“this is what this picture means”). It reaches for a kind of sympathy with the activity of art making (“this is how this picture means”’ (Teju Cole). Because he was probably the person who taught me that you can wax’n’whistle about art-history with basic decency and fairness for the English Language. E.H. Gombrich did his part, but Baxandall died this year on August 12th at aged 74, so let’s not crowd the podium.
2. Peter Campbell.
Because he was a joy-polygamist. Because he moved around quite happily. Alertly, but happily. Because he sustained our attention as the in-house designer, illustrator, and art-rhetorter for the London Review of Books. Because a critic can be a plain walking around person. Because he died on October 25th at aged 74. Because we might unlearn our post-post-modern-modern-vocabulary and recapture some pre-ironic way of being. (RGS)
