Deborah Solomon
Encyclopedia
Deborah Solomon is an American art critic, journalist and biographer. She is best-known for her weekly column, "Questions For," which ran in The New York Times Magazine
from 2003 to 2011.
and grew up in New Rochelle, New York. She was educated at Cornell University
, where she majored in art history and served as the associate editor of The Cornell Daily Sun
. She earned a bachelor of arts degree in 1979. The following year, she received a master's degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism
.
. For most of the 1990s, she served as the chief art critic of The Wall Street Journal
. She has written extensively about American painting, and is the author of several biographies of American artists, including Jackson Pollock
and Joseph Cornell
. Solomon was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship
in 2001 in the category of biography.
After leaving her regular column at the New York Times Magazine in 2011, Solomon said she would focus on her "almost finished" biography on Norman Rockwell
.
Asked to characterize her political beliefs, Solomon once said, "I'm not dependably pro-anything, except pro-thinking. I ask the questions that any curious person would if they had the chance to go around and converse with the architects of our policies and culture." Over the years, her column has featured interviews with many key Republicans, including Karl Rove
, former attorney generals John Ashcroft
and Alberto Gonzales
, George Shultz, Labor Secretary Elaine Chao
and Sandra Day O'Connor
.
In 2006, NBC
television host Tim Russert
, who was interviewed by Solomon for her "Questions For" column, publicly accused her of distorting his comments. The interview was scheduled for Mother's Day
, and, in the published version, Solomon repeatedly asks Russert to describe memories of his mother, only to have Russert evade her and talk about other topics. Russert charged, in a letter to the editor, that Solomon failed to include his comments about his mother and made him sound disloyal to her. Other interviewees, including NPR radio host Ira Glass
and advice columnist Amy Dickinson
, have also said they were misrepresented. A Times review of the matter found Russert's complaints were justified. In 2007, The New York Times
Public Editor Clark Hoyt
recommended that the Times run a disclaimer indicating the "Questions For" column is edited down from a much longer text, a suggestion which was adopted.
In March 2011, newly appointed Times Magazine editor, Hugo Lindgren, abolished the "Questions For" column, along with other longtime columns (e.g., "On Language," by Ben Zimmer; Randy Cohen's "Ethicist," "The Medium" by Virginia Heffernan) amid some controversy. With the encouragement of the senior management, Solomon will continue to write for the Times.
in New York, Solomon interviewed actor Steve Martin
about his new novel, An Object of Beauty, which is set in the art world. In response to emails received in real-time by the Y staff from viewers of the interview, a note was dispatched to Solomon on-stage, telling her to shift the conversation from art to Steve Martin's film career.
The next day, the Y issued an apology to audiences, along with a promise of a refund, prompting much controversy. Solomon told The New York Times, "Frankly, you would think that an audience in New York, at the 92nd Street Y, would be interested in hearing about art and artists. I had no idea that the Y programmers wanted me to talk to Steve instead on what it's like to host the Oscars or appear in It's Complicated
with Alec Baldwin
. I think the Y, which is supposedly a champion of the arts, has behaved very crassly and is reinforcing the most philistine aspects of a culture that values celebrity and award shows over art."
In an op-ed piece in The New York Times, Martin praised Solomon as an "art scholar" and said he would have rather "died onstage with art talk" than with the movie trivia questions the Y had chosen for him.
and infectious-disease specialist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
, and they have two sons, Eli Sepkowitz and Leo Sepkowitz, the founder of the sports blog, Leobeingleo.com.
She is of Romania
n descent on her father's side.
The New York Times Magazine
The New York Times Magazine is a Sunday magazine supplement included with the Sunday edition of The New York Times. It is host to feature articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted many notable contributors...
from 2003 to 2011.
Early life and education
Solomon was born in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and grew up in New Rochelle, New York. She was educated at Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
, where she majored in art history and served as the associate editor of The Cornell Daily Sun
The Cornell Daily Sun
The Cornell Daily Sun is an independent daily newspaper published in Ithaca, New York by students at Cornell University. It is the oldest independent college daily in the United States....
. She earned a bachelor of arts degree in 1979. The following year, she received a master's degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism
Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism
The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism is one of Columbia's graduate and professional schools. It offers three degree programs: Master of Science in journalism , Master of Arts in journalism and a Ph.D. in communications...
.
Professional work
Solomon began her career writing about art for various publications, including The New CriterionThe New Criterion
The New Criterion is a New York-based monthly literary magazine and journal of artistic and cultural criticism, edited by Hilton Kramer and Roger Kimball. It has sections for criticism of poetry, theater, art, music, the media, and books...
. For most of the 1990s, she served as the chief art critic of The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
. She has written extensively about American painting, and is the author of several biographies of American artists, including Jackson Pollock
Jackson Pollock
Paul Jackson Pollock , known as Jackson Pollock, was an influential American painter and a major figure in the abstract expressionist movement. During his lifetime, Pollock enjoyed considerable fame and notoriety. He was regarded as a mostly reclusive artist. He had a volatile personality, and...
and Joseph Cornell
Joseph Cornell
Joseph Cornell was an American artist and sculptor, one of the pioneers and most celebrated exponents of assemblage...
. Solomon was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowships are American grants that have been awarded annually since 1925 by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts." Each year, the foundation makes...
in 2001 in the category of biography.
After leaving her regular column at the New York Times Magazine in 2011, Solomon said she would focus on her "almost finished" biography on Norman Rockwell
Norman Rockwell
Norman Percevel Rockwell was a 20th-century American painter and illustrator. His works enjoy a broad popular appeal in the United States for their reflection of American culture. Rockwell is most famous for the cover illustrations of everyday life scenarios he created for The Saturday Evening...
.
"Questions For"
On January 5, 2003, Solomon made her debut as the New York Times Magazine's "Questions For" columnist. Her column became famous almost overnight for its singular mix of wit and opinion. In 2010, Solomon was ranked by the Daily Beast as one of "The Left's Top 25 Journalists.". Solomon "is brilliantly transforming the interview format into a form of criticism," according to a critic for New York Magazine.Asked to characterize her political beliefs, Solomon once said, "I'm not dependably pro-anything, except pro-thinking. I ask the questions that any curious person would if they had the chance to go around and converse with the architects of our policies and culture." Over the years, her column has featured interviews with many key Republicans, including Karl Rove
Karl Rove
Karl Christian Rove was Senior Advisor and Deputy Chief of Staff to former President George W. Bush until Rove's resignation on August 31, 2007. He has headed the Office of Political Affairs, the Office of Public Liaison, and the White House Office of Strategic Initiatives...
, former attorney generals John Ashcroft
John Ashcroft
John David Ashcroft is a United States politician who served as the 79th United States Attorney General, from 2001 until 2005, appointed by President George W. Bush. Ashcroft previously served as the 50th Governor of Missouri and a U.S...
and Alberto Gonzales
Alberto Gonzales
Alberto R. Gonzales was the 80th Attorney General of the United States. Gonzales was appointed to the post in February 2005 by President George W. Bush. Gonzales was the first Hispanic Attorney General in U.S. history and the highest-ranking Hispanic government official ever...
, George Shultz, Labor Secretary Elaine Chao
Elaine Chao
Elaine Lan Chao served as the 24th United States Secretary of Labor in the Cabinet of President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2009. She was the first Asian Pacific American woman and first Chinese American to be appointed to a President's cabinet in American history. Chao was the only cabinet...
and Sandra Day O'Connor
Sandra Day O'Connor
Sandra Day O'Connor is an American jurist who was the first female member of the Supreme Court of the United States. She served as an Associate Justice from 1981 until her retirement from the Court in 2006. O'Connor was appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1981...
.
In 2006, NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
television host Tim Russert
Tim Russert
Timothy John "Tim" Russert was an American television journalist and lawyer who appeared for more than 16 years as the longest-serving moderator of NBC's Meet the Press. He was a senior vice president at NBC News, Washington bureau chief and also hosted the eponymous CNBC/MSNBC weekend interview...
, who was interviewed by Solomon for her "Questions For" column, publicly accused her of distorting his comments. The interview was scheduled for Mother's Day
Mother's Day
Mother's Day is a celebration honoring mothers and celebrating motherhood, maternal bonds, and the influence of mothers in society. It is celebrated on various days in many parts of the world, yet most commonly in March, April, or May...
, and, in the published version, Solomon repeatedly asks Russert to describe memories of his mother, only to have Russert evade her and talk about other topics. Russert charged, in a letter to the editor, that Solomon failed to include his comments about his mother and made him sound disloyal to her. Other interviewees, including NPR radio host Ira Glass
Ira Glass
Ira Glass is an American public radio personality, and host and producer of the radio and television show This American Life.- Early life :...
and advice columnist Amy Dickinson
Amy Dickinson
Amy Dickinson is an American newspaper columnist who writes the syndicated advice column, Ask Amy....
, have also said they were misrepresented. A Times review of the matter found Russert's complaints were justified. In 2007, The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
Public Editor Clark Hoyt
Clark Hoyt
- Personal life and Professional career :Clark Hoyt is an American journalist who was the public editor of the New York Times, serving as the "readers' representative." He was the newspaper's third public editor, or ombudsman, after Daniel Okrent and Byron Calame...
recommended that the Times run a disclaimer indicating the "Questions For" column is edited down from a much longer text, a suggestion which was adopted.
In March 2011, newly appointed Times Magazine editor, Hugo Lindgren, abolished the "Questions For" column, along with other longtime columns (e.g., "On Language," by Ben Zimmer; Randy Cohen's "Ethicist," "The Medium" by Virginia Heffernan) amid some controversy. With the encouragement of the senior management, Solomon will continue to write for the Times.
92nd Street Y controversy
On November 29, 2010, at the 92nd Street Y92nd Street Y
92nd Street Y is a multifaceted cultural institution and community center located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States, at the corner of E. 92nd Street and Lexington Avenue. Its full name is 92nd Street Young Men's and Young Women's Hebrew Association...
in New York, Solomon interviewed actor Steve Martin
Steve Martin
Stephen Glenn "Steve" Martin is an American actor, comedian, writer, playwright, producer, musician and composer....
about his new novel, An Object of Beauty, which is set in the art world. In response to emails received in real-time by the Y staff from viewers of the interview, a note was dispatched to Solomon on-stage, telling her to shift the conversation from art to Steve Martin's film career.
The next day, the Y issued an apology to audiences, along with a promise of a refund, prompting much controversy. Solomon told The New York Times, "Frankly, you would think that an audience in New York, at the 92nd Street Y, would be interested in hearing about art and artists. I had no idea that the Y programmers wanted me to talk to Steve instead on what it's like to host the Oscars or appear in It's Complicated
It's Complicated (film)
It's Complicated is a 2009 American romantic comedy film written and directed by Nancy Meyers, starring Meryl Streep, Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin.-Plot:...
with Alec Baldwin
Alec Baldwin
Alexander Rae "Alec" Baldwin III is an American actor who has appeared on film, stage, and television.Baldwin first gained recognition through television for his work in the soap opera Knots Landing in the role of Joshua Rush. He was a cast member for two seasons before his character was killed off...
. I think the Y, which is supposedly a champion of the arts, has behaved very crassly and is reinforcing the most philistine aspects of a culture that values celebrity and award shows over art."
In an op-ed piece in The New York Times, Martin praised Solomon as an "art scholar" and said he would have rather "died onstage with art talk" than with the movie trivia questions the Y had chosen for him.
Personal life
Solomon is married to Kent Sepkowitz, a physicianPhysician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
and infectious-disease specialist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
Memorial Sloan–Kettering Cancer Center is a cancer treatment and research institution founded in 1884 as the New York Cancer Hospital...
, and they have two sons, Eli Sepkowitz and Leo Sepkowitz, the founder of the sports blog, Leobeingleo.com.
She is of Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
n descent on her father's side.