Reading the Art World: Richard Shiff

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Listen to our latest podcast episode featuring Richard Shiff, art historian and author of Writing after Art, published by David Zwirner Books.

Richard Shiff’s book is an expansive anthology of his most influential writings, many of which have shaped the art world’s understanding of 20th and 21st century artists. Throughout our conversation, Richard illuminates how he comes to observe and understand an artist's work in a way that can inspire us to do the same more thoughtfully.

"Writing is certainly itself an art. And critical writing that is probing, rather than mirroring art, is a kind of aesthetic exercise in itself, and it should stand aside the art as a kind of parallel, or as a collaborative venture that's like the other side. It's thought that becomes explicitly expressed rather than transient. It’s put down and it's permanent.”
– Richard Shiff

Richard Shiff is the Effie Marie Cain Regents Chair in Art at The University of Texas at Austin. His interests range broadly across the field of modern and contemporary art. His publications include Barnett Newman: A Catalogue Raisonné (coauthored, 2004), Doubt (2008), Between Sense and de Kooning (2011), Ellsworth Kelly: New York Drawings 1954–1962 (2014), Joel Shapiro: Sculpture and Works on Paper 1969–2019 (2020), and Sensuous Thoughts: Essays on the Work of Donald Judd (2020). He is currently completing a comprehensive study of the art of Jack Whitten.

Writing after Art includes essays on a wide range of prominent artists, many of whom are featured in current exhibitions around the world. 

Listen to this podcast on Spotify and Apple

Order the book here

Learn more about the podcast Reading the Art World here.

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