The New Criterion

Managing Editor

James Panero

James Panero is the Managing Editor of The New Criterion. In addition to his editorial duties for the magazine, which include managing the magazine's print and online operations, he writes on art and culture monthly for The New Criterion and serves as the magazine's gallery critic.

Mr. Panero is a contributor to a number of publications, including New York magazine, The New York Times Book Review, The Wall Street Journal, City Journal, Forbes, The New York Sun, The International Herald Tribune, Humanities magazine, National Review, The Weekly Standard, the Claremont Review, the University Bookman, and the Dartmouth Alumni Magazine. In 2007, he became a regular writer for Art & Antiques magazine.

Recent article highlights include his feature article on the ruined gallery owner Larry Salander for New York magazine, his analysis of arts endowments for City Journal and Forbes, his report on cultural investment in the Middle East for Art & Antiques, his editorial on museum "deaccessioning" and the public trust for The Wall Street Journal, and his memories of appearing as a child actor on Sesame Street for the New York Times Book Review.

For an archive of Mr. Panero's articles from these publications, follow this link. For links to Mr. Panero's New Criterion articles, see below.

Mr. Panero lectures widely on art, politics, and education, speaking at Columbia University, Brown University, Deerfield Academy, The New York Studio School, The College of the Holy Cross, and before the New York Association of Scholars. He has served as a panelist on the National Endowment for the Arts, a "visiting artist" at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, a panelist at the conference at the College Art Association, a panelist at the CPAC convention in Washington DC, and has been a radio guest on The Milt Rosenberg Show (WGN-Chicago), The Mike Rosen Show (KOA-Denver), NPR's All Things Considered, WNYC's The Brian Lehrer Show, and several other programs.

Mr. Panero takes an active role in arts organizations around New York, including the National Arts Club, where he is co-chair of the literary committee. He also oversees the Young Friends of The New Criterion.

Before joining The New Criterion in 2001, Mr. Panero was a graduate student in the history of art and architecture at Brown University, where he was awarded the University Scholarship. His area of focus was late-nineteenth-century French modernism under the advisement of Kermit Champa.

Mr. Panero is a former editor of National Review. He worked in Switzerland as a writing assistant to William F. Buckley Jr. on his novel Spytime: The Undoing of James Jesus Angleton (Harcourt, 2000).

James Panero received a B.A. from Dartmouth College, where he majored in Classics. In his sophomore year he was appointed editor-in-chief of The Dartmouth Review. At Dartmouth he developed a close mentorship with Professor Jeffrey Hart upon the professor's retirement from the college's English department. (Mr. Panero's profile of Hart, from the January/February 2007 issue of The Dartmouth Alumni Magazine, is available here). The two now serve on The Dartmouth Review 's board of directors, where Mr. Panero is Chairman.

Mr. Panero is the co-editor of The Dartmouth Review Pleads Innocent, an anthology of the newspaper published by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute in Spring 2006. He is a contributor to Counterpoints: 25 Years of The New Criterion on Culture and the Arts (Ivan R. Dee, 2007) and The State of Art Criticism, edited by James Elkins and Michael Newman (Routledge, 2008).

Mr. Panero was born in 1975 and grew up on New York's Upper West Side, where he attended Trinity School for thirteen years.

Mr. Panero continues to live in New York City. He is married to the writer and poet Dara Mandle, with whom he maintains the weblog www.supremefiction.com. He may be reached at the offices of The New Criterion or by email at jamespanero (at) gmail (dot)com.

Articles

Gallery chronicle (Art) , November 2009, 47
On “Sam Francis: 1953–1959”at L&M Arts; “Jay Milder: Recent Work” at Lohin Geduld Gallery; “Abby Leigh: The Sleeper’s Eye” at Betty Cuningham Gallery and “Silver Anniversary: 25 Photographs, 1835 to 1914” at Hans P. Kraus, Jr. Fine Photographs.

Gallery chronicle (Art) , October 2009, 52
On “George Grosz: The Years in America: 1933–1958” at David Nolan Gallery; “Mel Kendrick: Markers” in Madison Square Park; “Conrad Marca-Relli: The New York Years 1945–1967” at Knoedler & Company; “Leon Polk Smith” at Washburn Gallery; “Carole Feuerman: Swimmers, Bathers & Nudes”at Jim Kempner Fine Art & “Color-Time-Space” at Lohin Geduld and Janet Kurnatowski Galleries.

Gallery chronicle (Art) , September 2009, 48
On "Jack Tworkov: Against Extremes, Five Decades of Paintings" at the UBS Art Gallery, New York.

Gallery chronicle (Art) , June 2009, 50
On Op Art, Gabriele Evertz at Metaphor Gallery, James Little at June Kelly Gallery & Nicolas Carone at Lohin Geduld Gallery.

Gallery chronicle (Art) , May 2009, 47
On "Picasso: Mosqueteros" at the Gagosian Gallery, New York, on view through June 6, 2009 & “Edward Minoff” at Cavalier Galleries, Greenwich, Connecticut, on view from May 14 through May 28, 2009

The New York fairs (Art) , April 2009, 42
On 1Q2US, the Winter Antiques Show 2009, The Armory Show, The Art Show, and “Placing Avery: Paintings and Prints from the Collection of the Neuberger Museum of Art” at the UBS Gallery, New York.

Gallery chronicle (Art) , March 2009, 47
On “Louise Nevelson: Dawns and Dusks” at Pace Wildenstein, New York, February 13–March 14, 2009.

Gallery chronicle (Art) , February 2009, 52
On “Philip Guston: 1954–1958” at L&M Arts, “John Walker: Drawings 1973–1975” at Knoedler & Company, and “Biala: Collages 1957–1963” at Tibor de Nagy Gallery.

Gallery chronicle (Art) , January 2009, 50
On “Frankenthaler at Eighty: Six Decades” at Knoedler & Co., New York.

Made in China (Features) , December 2008, 29
On Zhang Huan & contemporary art in China.

Gallery chronicle (Art) , October 2008, 46
On "The Etchings of Giorgio Morandi" at Pace Master Prints, New York, and "Giorgio Morandi: Paintings and Works on Paper" at Lucas Schoormans Gallery, New York.

Hudson River Schooled (Art) , September 2008, 50
On Jacob Collins's Hudson River School for Landscape.

Gallery chronicle (Art) , June 2008, 53
On "Catherine Murphy: New Work" at Knoedler & Company, New York, "Walton Ford" at Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York, and "Jacob Collins—Rediscovering the American Landscape: The Eastholm Project" at Hirschl & Adler, New York.

Gallery chronicle (Art) , May 2008, 62
On “John Dubrow: Paintings” at Lori Bookstein Fine Art, “Wayne Thiebaud: The Figure” at Allan Stone Gallery, “Gregory Crewdson” at Luhring Augustine, and “Lois Dodd: Landscapes and Structures, a Survey Exhibition” at Alexandre Gallery.

Gallery chronicle (Art) , April 2008, 49
On "The 2008 Biennial Exhibition" at the Whitney Museum, "Moon Birds" at Knoedler & Company, and "Seven Deadly Sins & Recent Works by Jamie Wyeth" at Adelson Galleries.

Gallery chronicle (Art) , February 2008, 51
On "Richard Pousette-Dart: Drawing, Form Is Verb" at Knoedler & Company, New York; "Group Exhibition: Abstractions" at Charles Cowles Gallery, New York; "Barry Le Va: Voltage" at David Nolan Gallery, New York; and "El Anatsui: Zebra Crossing" at Jack Shainman Gallery, New York.

Gallery chronicle (Art) , January 2008, 47
On "Christopher Wilmarth" at the Betty Cuningham Gallery, New York.

Radical un-chic (Features) , December 2007, 27
On Tom Wolfe & the derrière garde.

Gallery chronicle (Art) , December 2007, 45
On "Calder/Melotti: Lyrical Constructions" at Barbara Mathes Gallery, "Drawing in Space" at Richard L. Feigen & Co., "Joel Shapiro: New Sculpture" at PaceWildenstein, "Mel Kendrick: Red Blocks" at David Nolan Gallery, "Willem de Kooning, Drawings: 1920s-1970s" at Allan Stone Gallery, and "Jules Olitski: The Late Paintings, A Celebration" at Knoedler & Company.

Gallery chronicle (Art) , November 2007, 60
On Salander-O'Reilly, "Thornton Willis, Paintings: 40 Years" at Sideshow Gallery, and "William Bailey on Canvas" at Betty Cuningham Gallery.

Gallery chronicle (Art) , October 2007, 52
On "Masterpieces of Art: Five Centuries of Painting and Sculpture" at Salander-O'Reilly Galleries, New York, "Michael Goldberg: New Paintings" at Knoedler & Company, New York, and "Duncan Hannah: Wanderlust" at James Graham & Sons, New York.

Making sense of Robert Storr (Features) , September 2007, 18
What the American director of the 52nd Venice Biennale can tell us about the state of culture.

Gallery chronicle (Art) , June 2007, 48
On Wolf Kahn at Ameringer Yohe Fine Arts, George Baselitz at David Nolan Gallery, Charles Burchfield at DC Moore Gallery, "Magical Means: Milton Avery and Watercolor" at Knoedler & Company, Joan Mitchell at Cheim & Read Gallery & "A Century and a Half in the Art Business" at James Graham & Sons.

Gallery chronicle (Art) , May 2007, 50
On the sculptor Sabin Howard & “Constable’s Oil Sketches 1809–1829: The Maria Bicknell Years” at Salander-O’Reilly Galleries, New York.

The New York fairs (Art) , April 2007, 68
On "The Armory Show: International Fair of New Art" at Pier 94 and "The Art Show" at the Seventh Regiment Armory.

Gallery chronicle (Art) , March 2007, 49
On "Picturing Artists (1950s-1960s): Photographs by Dan Budnik" at Knoedler & Company, New York, "John Morra: Recent Paintings" at Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York, "Nell Blaine: Image and Abstraction; Paintings and Drawings (1944-1959)" at Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York, and "Al Pounders: Recent Work" at Allen Stone Gallery, New York.

Gallery chronicle (Art) , February 2007, 52
On "Andrew Forge" at Betty Cuningham Gallery, "Nineteenth-century German Romantic Drawings" at David Nolan Gallery, and "Paintings: Ralph Albert Blakelock, Louis Michel Eilshemius, and Albert Pinkham Ryder" at Salander-O'Reilly Galleries, New York.

Gallery chronicle (Art) , January 2007, 56
On "Sanctuary Revealed: Restoration of an Architectural Icon" at the Herbert and Eileen Bernard Museum of Judaica, "Responses to Solitude" at the Terrence Cooke Building, and "Biblical Art in a Secular Century" at the Museum of Biblical Art.

The secret history of modern art (Features) , December 2006, 19
An exploration of the symbolist origins of modern art.

Gallery chronicle (Art) , October 2006, 54
On "Luminist Horizons: The Art and Collection of James A. Suydam," which opened at the National Academy Museum, New York, on September 14 and remains on view through December 31, 2006; "John Funt: Recent Paintings," which opened at James Graham & Sons, New York, on September 14 and remains on view through October 14, 2006; "John Walker: Seal Point Series," which opened at Knoedler & Company, New York, on September 9 and remains on view through October 28, 2006; "Giorgio Morandi," which opened at Paul Thiebaud Gallery, New York, on September 12 and remains on view through October 28, 2006.

The new old school (Art) , September 2006, 104
On the rise of Classical Realism and its dean, Jacob Collins

Shorter notice (Books) , June 2006, 97
On Windows on Nature: The Great Habitat Dioramas of the American Museum of Natural History by Stephen Christopher Quinn

Gallery chronicle (Art) , June 2006, 53
On French Book Art/Livres d'Artistes at the New York Public Library; Clifford Odets at Michael Rosenfield Gallery; James Castle/Walker Evans at Knoedler & Company; Guy Pène du Bois at James Graham & Sons; Arthur Dove at Alexandre Gallery; and Willem de Kooning at L&M Arts.

The New York fairs (Art) , May 2006, 45
On "The Armory Show" at Piers 90 and 92, New York; "The Art Show" at Seventh Regiment Armory, New York; and "The Winter Antiques Show" also at the Seventh Regiment Armory, New York.

Exhibition Notes (Art) , April 2006, 44
On "Fairfield Porter" at the Betty Cuningham Gallery, New York.

Queer eye for the Whitney Bi (Art) , April 2006, 48
On "The Whitney Biennial 2006: Day for Night" at the Whitney Museum of Modern Art.

Shorter notice (Books) , April 2006, 78
On Museum, Inc.: Inside the Global Art World by Paul Werner.

Gallery chronicle (Art) , March 2006, 48
On Edvard Munch at MoMA and the Scandinavia House; Kentridge at the Marian Goodman; William Nicholson at Paul Kasmin; Jake Berthot at Betty Cuningham; and Lois Dodd at Alexandre Gallery.

Shorter notice (Books) , March 2006, 74
Rodolphe Rapetti's "Symbolism" reviewed.

Gallery chronicle (Art) , February 2006, 50
On “Richard Tuttle: Constructed Relief Paintings, 1964–1965,” which was on view at Peter Freeman, Inc, New York, from November 3, 2005 through January 28, 2006; “The Kreutzer Sonata: Historical Work by Richard Tuttle,” which opened at Zwirner & Wirth, New York, on January 6 and remains on view through February 18, 2006; “Richard Tuttle: Prints 1973–2005,” which was on view at Brooke Alexander Editions from October 20, 2005 through January 30, 2006; “Joe Zucker: Open Storage, New Paintings” and “Joe Zucker: Container Ships,” which opened respectively at Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York, and Nolan/Eckman Gallery, New York, on January 12 and remain on view through February 11, 2006; “Biala: Selected Paintings,” which opened at Tibor de Nagy, New York, on January 5 and remains on view through February 4, 2006; and “Robert S. Neuman: Fifty Years” which opened at Allan Stone Gallery, New York, on January 12 and remains on view through March 4, 2006.

Criticism after art (Features) , December 2005, 16
Some thoughts on the current crisis.

Gallery chronicle (Art) , November 2005, 43
On “Oscar Bluemner: A Passion for Color,” which opened at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, on October 7, 2005 and remains on view through February 12, 2006; “Theme & Variation: Twentieth-Century Master Prints,” which opened at Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York, on October 14 and remains on view through November 19, 2005; “Salute to the 130th Anniversary of the Art Students League,” which was on view at Joan T. Washburn Gallery, New York, from September 8 to October 29, 2005, and “Tim Bavington: Recent Paintings,” which opened at Jack Shainman Gallery, New York, on October 14 and remains on view through November 12, 2005.

Gallery chronicle (Art) , October 2005, 53
On “Floating Island to Travel Around Manhattan Island,” by Robert Smithson, which was on view from September 17 through September 25, 2005; “Philip Pearlstein”, which opened at Betty Cuningham Gallery, New York, on September 15 and remains on view through October 22, 2005; “Jordan Wolfson: Recent Work”, which opened at DFN Gallery, New York, on September 14 and remains on view through October 15, 2005; “Philip-Lorca de Corcia: Lucky Thirteen”, which opened at PaceWildenstein, New York, on September 8 and remains on view through October 8, 2005; “Jean Hélion”, which opened at the National Academy Museum, New York, on July 14 and remains on view through October 9, 2005; and Salander-O’Reilly Galleries, for Old Master and Renaissance art and sculpture, which opened at 22 East 71st Street on September 23, 2005.

Exhibition notes (Art) , September 2005, 70
On “Robert Smithson” at the Whitney Museum of American Art from June 23 to October 16, 2005.

Gallery Chronicle (Art) , June 2005, 51
On “Marvin Bileck & Emily Nelligan: Cranberry Island: Drawings and Prints” at Alexandre Gallery, New York; “Tim Gardner” at 303 Gallery, New York; “ Jacqueline Gourevitch: Cloud Paintings 2000–2005 & David Hockney: Pools 1978–1980” at the Mary Ryan Gallery, New York; & “Richard Baker” at Tibor de Nagy, New York

Exhibition Notes (Art) , June 2005, 49
On “Jacques-Louis David: Empire to Exile” at The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles & Sterling & Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Mass.

Gallery chronicle (Art) , May 2005, 48
On “Adrienne Farb” at Mary Ryan Gallery, New York; “Graham Nickson: Painting” at Salander-O’Reilly Galleries, New York; “Wayne Thiebaud Since 1962: A Survey” at the Allan Stone Gallery, New York; & "Thornton Willis & James Little: Raising the Bar” at Sideshow Gallery, Brooklyn.

Shorter notice (Books) , May 2005, 89
A review of Christopher Wilmarth: Light & Gravity, by Steven Henry Madoff.

The New York fairs (Art) , April 2005, 51
On “The Armory Show: The International Fair of New Art” at Piers 90 & 92; the seventeenth annual ADAA “Art Show” at the 67th Street Armory; the AIPAD “Photography Show” at the New York Hilton; the Outsider Art Fair at the Puck Building; & the Winter Antiques Show also at the 67th Street Armory.

Gallery chronicle (Art) , March 2005, 46
On “Cy Twombly: Fifty Years of Works on Paper” at the Whitney Museum, New York; “John Walker: Collage” at Knoedler & Company, New York; & “George McNeil: Paintings” at Salander-O'Reilly Galleries, New York.

Shorter notices (Books) , March 2005, 75
On Reading Biography, by Carl Rollyson.

Gallery chronicle (Art) , February 2005, 43
On “Hans Hofmann: Search for the Real” at Ameringer & Yohe Fine Art, New York; “Robert De Niro, Sr.: Paintings” at Salander-O'Reilly, New York; “Jane Freilicher: An Overview” at Tibor de Nagy, New York; & “Milton Avery: Onrushing Waves” at Knoedler & Company, New York.

Shorter notices (Books) , February 2005, 76
A review of The Life of Isamu Noguchi: Journey without Borders, by Masayo Duus, translated by Peter Duus.

Gallery chronicle (Art) , January 2005, 44
On “Beckmann-Picasso/Picasso-Beckmann” at Richard L. Feigen & Co., New York; “Ralph Eugene Meatyard” at the International Center of Photography, New York; & “James Gillray” at the New York Public Library.

Shorter notices (Books) , January 2005, 72
James Panero on My Life, by Giuseppe Garibaldi.

Pictures from an institution (Features) , December 2004, 33
James Panero consults Randell Jarrell’s classic novel upon revisiting his own Benton.

Exhibition Notes (Art) , December 2004, 51
On “Calder, Miro” at The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.

Shorter notices (Books) , December 2004, 84
A review of Wodehouse: A Life, by Robert McCrum.

Gallery chronicle (Art) , November 2004, 41
On “Inventions: Recent Paintings by Caio Fonseca” at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; “Caio Fonseca, New Paintings” at Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York; “Richmond Burton” at Cheim & Read, New York; “Louisa Matthiasdottir: A Retrospective” at Scandinavia House, New York; “Giorgio Morandi, Paintings 1950-“1964” at Lucas Schoormans, New York; & “Rackstraw Downes, New Paintings” at Betty Cuningham Gallery, New York.

Gallery chronicle (Art) , October 2004, 48
On “Scott LoBaido” at Tribute Gallery; Will Cotton at Mary Boone Chelsea Gallery; “Modern Masters” at Salander-O’Reilly; “Lois Dodd: Flashings” at Alexandre Gallery; Joan Mitchell at Mary Ryan Gallery; “Under the Influence” at Barbara Mathes Gallery & Ai Weiwei at Robert Miller Gallery.

Shorter notices (Books) , September 2004, 77
A review of 'Americans in Paris', the new Library of America anthology.

Shorter notices (Books) , September 2004, 77
A review of Hotel Bemelmans, from the author best known for his Madeline books.

Kermit Swiler Champa, 1939-2004 (Notebook) , September 2004, 78
On the passing of Kermit Swiler Champa, an art historian and professor of art history at Brown University.

Gallery chronicle (Art) , June 2004, 45
On Constable's Skies at Salander-O'Reilly Galleries, New York; Guy Pene du Bois: Painter of Modern Life at James Graham & Sons, New York; Eduardo Paolozzi: Works on Paper and Collage at Flowers, New York & The Devonshire Inheritance: Five Centuries of Collecting at Chatsworth at the Bard Graduate Center, New York.

Milton Avery: then & now (Art) , May 2004, 25
On the unpresumptuous Milton Avery whose “quiet harmonies of color and line” continue to resonate.

Exhibition note (Art) , March 2004, 57
James Panero on “A Beautiful and Gracious Manner: The Art of Parmigianino,” at The Frick Collection, New York.

Armchair adventures (Art) , February 2004, 56
On Joe Zucker at Paul Kasmin and Nolan/Eckman, Philip Pearlstein at Robert Miller, and Antoine-Louis Barye at James Graham.

Strange fruit (Art) , January 2004, 44
On the “John Currin” exhibit at the Whitney Museum of American Art and “Kiki Smith: Prints, Books and Things” at the Museum of Modern Art, Queens.

What is strange about the Dahesh Museum? (Features) , December 2003, 33
On the reopening of a curious New York institution.

Whither the psychodramas? (Art) , October 2003, 47
On “Miracle in the Scrap Heap: The Sculpture of Richard Stankiewicz” at the AXA gallery & “Ellsworth Kelly: Red Green Blue-”Paintings and Studies, 1958-1965” at the Whitney.

That is to say: nowhere (Art) , September 2003, 45
On “The American Effect: Global Perspectives on the United States, 1990-2003” at the Whitney.

Reading Africa in Waugh (Features) , July 2003
What Evelyn Waugh can tell us about contemporary Africa.

Gallery chronicle (Art) , June 2003, 55
Joel Shapiro at PaceWildenstein (Chelsea), Frank Stella at Paul Kasmin, George Segal at Mitchell-Innes & Nash, and Roy Lichtenstein on the roof the Metropolitan Museum.

The house gods of Elie Nadelman (Art) , May 2003, 44

Exhibition note (Art) , May 2003, 47
On “Nell Blaine, Artist in the World: Works from the 1950s” at Tibor de Nagy, New York.

Gallery chronicle (Art) , April 2003, 60
On William Bailey at Robert Miller, Paul Georges at Salander-O'Reilly, Marsden Hartley at Alexandre & Wayne Thiebaud at Allan Stone.

Marsden Hartley & American modernism (Art) , March 2003, 49

Exhibition note (Art) , February 2003, 49
On “Lois Orswell, David Smith, and Modern Art” at the Fogg art Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Exhibition note (Art) , February 2003
On Wolfgang Tillmans at Busch-Reisinger.

Bonnard's butterflies (Features) , December 2002, 32

Erotic prudery (Art) , November 2002, 49
On the sexual politics of Jean-Baptiste Greuze.

MOMA QNS (Art) , July 2002
Considering how “QNS” weighs against the precarious balance of “MOMA,” and to what extent the architecture of “MOMA QNS” tells us about the future of the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Exhibition note (Art) , May 2002, 51
On “Surrealism: Desire Unbound” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Exhibition note (Art) , December 2001, 61
On “Along the Nile: Early Photographs of Egypt,” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.