Thomas E. Crow is an American art historian and art critic

Art critic

An art critic is a person who specializes in evaluating art. Their written critiques, or reviews, are published in newspapers, magazines, books and on web sites...

 who is best known for his influential writing on the role of art in modern society and culture.

Crow was born in Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

 in 1948, and moved to San Diego, California

San Diego, California

San Diego is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest city in California. The city is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, immediately adjacent to the Mexican border. The birthplace of California, San Diego is known for its mild year-round...

 in 1961. He received a B.A. from Pomona College

Pomona College

Pomona College is a private, residential, liberal arts college in Claremont, California. Founded in 1887 in Pomona, California by a group of Congregationalists, the college moved to Claremont in 1889 to the site of a hotel, retaining its name. The school enrolls 1,548 students.The founding member...

 in 1969, and his M.A. in 1975 and Ph.D. in 1978, both from the University of California, Los Angeles

University of California, Los Angeles

The University of California, Los Angeles is a public research university located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA. It was founded in 1919 as the "Southern Branch" of the University of California and is the second oldest of the ten campuses...

.

In his early career, Crow focused on eighteenth-century French art. His work from this period includes his books Painters and Public Life in Eighteenth Century Paris (1985) and Emulation: Making Artists for Revolutionary France (1995). More recently, his work has involved modern and contemporary American art. This recent work includes The Rise of the Sixties: American and European Art in the Era of Dissent (1996) and Modern Art in the Common Culture (1996).

Crow has held teaching positions at the California Institute of the Arts

California Institute of the Arts

The California Institute of the Arts, commonly referred to as CalArts, is located in Valencia, in Los Angeles County, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the United States created specifically for students of both the visual and the...

, the University of Chicago

University of Chicago

The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...

, Princeton University

Princeton University

Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....

, the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, the University of Sussex

University of Sussex

The University of Sussex is an English public research university situated next to the East Sussex village of Falmer, within the city of Brighton and Hove. The University received its Royal Charter in August 1961....

, Yale University

Yale University

Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...

 and the University of Southern California

University of Southern California

The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...

. He served as director of the Getty Research Institute

Getty Research Institute

The Getty Research Institute , located at the Getty Center in Los Angeles, California, is "dedicated to furthering knowledge and advancing understanding of the visual arts". A program of the J...

 from 2000 to 2007, and started a new position as the Rosalie Solow Professor of Modern Art at New York University

New York University

New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...

's Institute of Fine Arts in September 2007.

Crow is a contributing editor to Artforum

Artforum

Artforum is an international monthly magazine specializing in contemporary art.-Publication:The magazine is published ten times a year, September through May, along with an annual summer issue...

.

Selected publications

• Painters and Public Life in Eighteenth Century Paris (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1985)
• Emulation: Making Artists for Revolutionary France (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1995)
• The Rise of the Sixties: American and European Art in the Era of Dissent (New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1996)
• Modern Art in the Common Culture (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1996)
• The Intelligence of Art (University of North Carolina Press, 1999)
• Gordon Matta-Clark, co-authored by Thomas Crow, Corinne Diserens, Christian Kravagna and Judith Russi Kirshner (Phaidon Press, 2003)
• "Cosmic Exile: Turns in the Life and Art of Robert Smithson" in Robert Smithson, edited by Eugenie Tsai (University of California Press, 2004)
• Robert Rauschenberg: Combines, edited by Paul Schimmel (Steidl Publishing, 2006)