Michael Kimmelman
Encyclopedia
Michael Kimmelman is an author, critic, columnist and pianist. He is the chief architecture critic for The New York Times
and written on issues of public housing, community development and social responsibility. He was the paper's longtime chief art critic and, in 2007, created the Abroad column, covering culture, political and social affairs across Europe and elsewhere. In July, 2011, the Times
appointed him chief architecture critic and also made him the paper's senior critic.
He was born and raised in Greenwich Village
, the son of a physician and civil rights activist. He attended Friends Seminary
in Manhattan
, graduated summa cum laude from Yale College
and received his graduate degree in art history from Harvard University
. A concert pianist, who still regularly performs as a soloist and with chamber groups on series in New York and across Europe, he started as a music critic at the paper, then moved into art.
A former editor at ID Magazine and architecture critic for New England Monthly, he has written at length about, among others, the artists Richard Serra
, Michael Heizer
, Lucian Freud
, Raymond Pettibon
and Matthew Barney
along with the architects Shigeru Ban
, Peter Zumthor
and Oscar Niemeyer
. Author of The Accidental Masterpiece, he has hosted various television features, appearing in the 2007 documentary film My Kid Could Paint That
.
From fall 2007 into summer 2011 he was based in Berlin
covering, among other subjects, the crackdown on cultural freedom in Vladimir Putin
's Russia
, life in Gaza under Hamas, the rise of the far-right in Hungary
, Négritude
in France
, bullfighting
in contemporary Spain
, Czech humor in the context of political protest, and Holocaust education for a new generation of Germans.
A finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2000, he also contributes regularly to the New York Review of Books.
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...
and written on issues of public housing, community development and social responsibility. He was the paper's longtime chief art critic and, in 2007, created the Abroad column, covering culture, political and social affairs across Europe and elsewhere. In July, 2011, the Times
Times
The Times is a UK daily newspaper, the original English language newspaper titled "Times". Times may also refer to:In newspapers:*The Times , went defunct in 2005*The Times *The Times of Northwest Indiana...
appointed him chief architecture critic and also made him the paper's senior critic.
He was born and raised in Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village, , , , .in New York often simply called "the Village", is a largely residential neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City. A large majority of the district is home to upper middle class families...
, the son of a physician and civil rights activist. He attended Friends Seminary
Friends Seminary
Friends Seminary is an elite private day school in Manhattan. It is owned and controlled by the New York Quarterly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends. The school, the oldest continuous coeducational school in New York City, serves 694 college-bound day students in Kindergarten through...
in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, graduated summa cum laude from Yale College
Yale College
Yale College was the official name of Yale University from 1718 to 1887. The name now refers to the undergraduate part of the university. Each undergraduate student is assigned to one of 12 residential colleges.-Residential colleges:...
and received his graduate degree in art history from Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
. A concert pianist, who still regularly performs as a soloist and with chamber groups on series in New York and across Europe, he started as a music critic at the paper, then moved into art.
A former editor at ID Magazine and architecture critic for New England Monthly, he has written at length about, among others, the artists Richard Serra
Richard Serra
Richard Serra is an American minimalist sculptor and video artist known for working with large-scale assemblies of sheet metal. Serra was involved in the Process Art Movement.-Early life and education:...
, Michael Heizer
Michael Heizer
Michael Heizer is a contemporary artist specializing primarily in large-scale sculptures and earth art .Heizer was born in Berkeley, California in 1944; and he attended the San Francisco Art Institute. Traveling to New York City in 1966, he began his career producing more conventional, small-scale...
, Lucian Freud
Lucian Freud
Lucian Michael Freud, OM, CH was a British painter. Known chiefly for his thickly impasted portrait and figure paintings, he was widely considered the pre-eminent British artist of his time...
, Raymond Pettibon
Raymond Pettibon
Raymond Pettibon is an American artist who currently lives and works in Venice Beach, California.-Early life:...
and Matthew Barney
Matthew Barney
Matthew Barney is an American artist who works in sculpture, photography, drawing and film. His early works were sculptural installations combined with performance and video...
along with the architects Shigeru Ban
Shigeru Ban
Shigeru Ban is an accomplished Japanese and international architect, most famous for his innovative work with paper, particularly recycled cardboard paper tubes used to quickly and efficiently house disaster victims...
, Peter Zumthor
Peter Zumthor
Peter Zumthor is a Swiss architect and winner of the 2009 Pritzker Prize.-Early life:Zumthor was born in Basel, the son of a cabinet-maker...
and Oscar Niemeyer
Oscar Niemeyer
Oscar Ribeiro de Almeida Niemeyer Soares Filho is a Brazilian architect specializing in international modern architecture...
. Author of The Accidental Masterpiece, he has hosted various television features, appearing in the 2007 documentary film My Kid Could Paint That
My Kid Could Paint That
My Kid Could Paint That is a 2007 documentary film by director Amir Bar-Lev . The movie follows the early artistic career of Marla Olmstead, a young girl from Binghamton, NY who gains fame first as a child prodigy painter of abstract art, and then becomes the subject of controversy concerning...
.
From fall 2007 into summer 2011 he was based in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
covering, among other subjects, the crackdown on cultural freedom in Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin served as the second President of the Russian Federation and is the current Prime Minister of Russia, as well as chairman of United Russia and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union of Russia and Belarus. He became acting President on 31 December 1999, when...
's Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, life in Gaza under Hamas, the rise of the far-right in Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
, Négritude
Négritude
Négritude is a literary and ideological movement, developed by francophone black intellectuals, writers, and politiciansin France in the 1930s by a group that included the future Senegalese President Léopold Sédar Senghor, Martinican poet Aimé Césaire, and the Guianan Léon Damas.The Négritude...
in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, bullfighting
Bullfighting
Bullfighting is a traditional spectacle of Spain, Portugal, southern France and some Latin American countries , in which one or more bulls are baited in a bullring for sport and entertainment...
in contemporary Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, Czech humor in the context of political protest, and Holocaust education for a new generation of Germans.
A finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2000, he also contributes regularly to the New York Review of Books.
Books
- The Accidental Masterpiece: On the Art of Life and Vice Versa (Penguin Press, 2005)
- Portraits: Talking with Artists at the Met, the Modern, the Louvre, and Elsewhere (Random House, 1998)
- Oscar Niemeyer (Assouline, 2009)
- More Things Like This (McSweeney's/Chronicle Books, 2009)
- Playing Piano for Pleasure by Charles Cooke, foreword by Michael Kimmelman (Skyhorse, 2011)