The New Yorker has fired its art critic, Jackson Arn, after receiving complaints about his actions at the magazine’s 100th-anniversary event in February.
In 2023, Jackson Arn was appointed The New Yorker’s new art critic.
Highlights
- Jackson Arn was accused of making inappropriate advances toward several guests and appeared intoxicated during the 100th-anniversary celebration.
- The celebration at Jean’s in NoHo brought together distinguished writers, editors, and artists who contributed to The New Yorker.
- In reaction, a Facebook user proposed that this incident might be the most embarrassing moment in the magazine’s second century.
Originally from Arizona and now residing in New York, Arn completed his studies at Columbia University in 2015.
Over the years, he has contributed to several prominent outlets, including Artforum, The Drift, The Los Angeles Review of Books, and The Nation.
Accusations of Inappropriate Behavior and Intoxication Surface At The New Yorker’s 100th Anniversary Celebration
At the 100th anniversary celebration, he was accused of making inappropriate advances toward some guests and appeared to be drunk, according to one of whom saw the incident firsthand.
Last month’s event in February was a key part of The New Yorker’s 100th-anniversary celebrations, which featured podcasts, a special anniversary issue, and collections of poetry and fiction.
The event, hosted at Jean’s in NoHo, brought together notable writers, editors, and artists who have contributed to The New Yorker.
Among those present were Art Spiegelman, the graphic novelist known for Maus, Jelani Cobb, the dean of Columbia Journalism School, and Tina Brown, a former magazine editor.
In a column for the magazine, editor David Remnick reflected on the milestone, describing The New Yorker as a “great gamble” that had successfully expanded into audio, video, and digital formats.
In response, a Facebook user suggested that this event could be considered the most embarrassing moment of the magazine’s second century.
Leader in the clubhouse for most embarrassing moment of the magazine’s second hundred years….
Lew Powell
Another person remarked that they could only imagine the discomfort of The New Yorker’s HR staff attending a Christmas party for a different newspaper.
Trying to imagine the horror of The New Yorker’s HR staff attending (fill in the blank) newspaper’s Christmas party
Robert Bell
After all, Arn succeeded Peter Schjeldahl as The New Yorker’s art critic after Schjeldahl‘s death from lung cancer in October 2022.
Schjeldahl, a staff writer at the magazine since 1998, was widely regarded as one of the greatest critics of his time. He was known for his unique writing style and deep love for art and language.
He explained that what made Schjeldahl stand out wasn’t that he was free from self-doubt but experienced it.
Arn went on to say that Schjeldahl’s ability to grapple with both admiration and frustration toward an artist was perhaps due to his extensive experience with art criticism, which led him to develop a unique, challenging, yet affectionate approach.
Additional Information
- David Remnick, the magazine’s editor, announced this week in a memo to staff, “I’m excited to share that Jackson Arn has joined The New Yorker as our new art critic in 2023.
- Arn already contributed excellent work, including reviews of a Georgia O’Keeffe exhibition at MOMA, a van Gogh show at the Met, and a new book about the vibrant mid-century art scene.
- In recent articles for The New Yorker, he described Sarah Sze’s current Guggenheim exhibit as “the niftiest migraine you will ever experience.”
- He critiqued Yayoi Kusama’s latest sculptures at David Zwirner as “exactly on brand and painfully dull, lacking the hypnotic monotony of Minimalism or the cheeky emptiness of Pop.
