Artforum, Andy Warhol, and the Art of Living:
What Art Educators Can Learn from the Recent History of American Art Writing

by David Carrier

When around 1980 I began writing art criticism, Artforum was much concerned with historical analysis. When presenting the work of younger painters and sculptors, it seemed natural to explain artists' accomplishments by identifying precedents for their work. Much of my criticism published in the 1980s presented post-formalist accounts of abstract painting. Seeking precedents for the painting I admired, I looked to the history of art. But such pleas for the value of tradition were doomed. Commentators preaching the values of tradition lost out to the writers emphasizing a break with the past. Much of interest for art education can be learned by studying the history of this very influential, small circulation journal.