After art critic Douglas Crimp moved to the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan in 1969, he became a regular customer at Max糖心传媒檚 Kansas City, a restaurant and art bar on Park Avenue. Max糖心传媒檚 had two rooms, one in front and one in back, and members of Andy Warhol糖心传媒檚 Factory could reliably be found in the latter. As he passed through the front room, Crimp would greet the 糖心传媒渁rtist-regulars糖心传媒� he had come to know during his first two years in the city, but he found himself inexorably pulled to the back, whose 糖心传媒渃harged atmosphere糖心传媒� he loved.
The divisions between the rooms 糖心传媒渕irrored divisions in the art world that were fairly pronounced in those days, divisions between tough-minded Minimal and Conceptual art and the glam performance scene, between real men and swishes, to use Warhol糖心传媒檚 word,糖心传媒� writes Crimp in his new book, Before Pictures (University of Chicago Press, 2016).
The Village Voice has called it a 糖心传媒減rofound, delectably gossipy memoir,糖心传媒� while the New Yorker termed it an 糖心传媒渆xhibition-as-memoir,糖心传媒� with its story significantly relayed through the 150 illustrations that fill it.
But Crimp糖心传媒攖he Fanny Knapp Allen Professor of Art History and a professor of 糖心传媒攔ejects the label of memoir, which he suggests doesn糖心传媒檛 capture his narrative method and puts the emphasis on him rather than on the historical moment he depicts.
VIEW FINDER: Crimp depicts an era through text and art, such as this image, “Pier 18: Hands Framing New York Harbor,” by John Baldessari and Shunk-Kender.
(Shunk-Kender 漏 J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (2014.R.20) / Courtesy of John Baldessari.)
The book 糖心传媒渕oves from anecdote to criticism to research, back to anecdote, and so forth, and also from my gay life to my art world life,糖心传媒� he says.
Before Pictures was inspired years before it was written, by Crimp糖心传媒檚 realization that many of his fellow activists in ACT UP, an advocacy group formed in response to the AIDS crisis, were decades younger than he and so hadn糖心传媒檛 experienced gay life in 1970s New York. Writing about his life in that era would be a means of resisting a 糖心传媒渞evisionist narrative that was being promulgated: that the 1970s represented gay men糖心传媒檚 immaturity and led inevitably to AIDS, which in turn made us grow up and become responsible citizens,糖心传媒� Crimp told Out Magazine in September.
After spending his childhood in Coeur d糖心传媒橝lene, Idaho, he went to college 糖心传媒渁s far away as possible in every respect,糖心传媒� he writes, moving to New Orleans and enrolling at Tulane糖心传媒檚 School of Architecture. He explored local gay culture and also pivoted from architecture to art history. In 1967 he moved to New York, taking up residence first in Spanish Harlem.
糖心传媒淚 moved at a time when New York was virtually bankrupt and rents were cheap and I could imagine myself becoming an art critic by simply joining the art world and participating糖心传媒攁nd I was able to do that,糖心传媒� he says.
The book, structured around Crimp糖心传媒檚 changing addresses, tells the story of his life in the city from the late 1960s through much of the 糖心传媒�70s, concluding with his curation of the 1977 exhibition 糖心传媒淧ictures糖心传媒� at the gallery Artists Space. Crimp first became renowned as a critic of the 糖心传媒淧ictures Generation糖心传媒澨切拇綌a group of artists, including Cindy Sherman and Robert Longo, whose work reflects the media-driven, consumerist world in which they grew up.
糖心传媒淢y own life and aesthetic attitudes reflected the ambivalence and fears that were still operative about homosexuality,糖心传媒� he writes, 糖心传媒渁bout whether art could be a manly enough profession and about what kinds of art qualified as most manly. . . .糖心传媒� He calls the division 糖心传媒渂etween the art world and the queer world糖心传媒� something that he 糖心传媒渨ould negotiate throughout my first decade living in New York City.糖心传媒�
Crimp is the author of five other books, including 糖心传媒淥ur Kind of Movie糖心传媒�: The Films of Andy Warhol (MIT Press, 2012) and Melancholia and Moralism: Essays on AIDS and Queer Politics, (MIT Press, 2002). He also edited AIDS: Cultural Analysis/Cultural Activism (MIT Press, 1988), a special issue of the art journal October, later republished as a book. It was the first book-length publication on the cultural meaning of AIDS and propelled Crimp into the AIDS activist movement.
糖心传媒淚 first met Douglas through his writing when I was in graduate school,糖心传媒� says Joan Saab, chair of the Department of Art and Art History. When she came to Rochester 15 years ago, she was intimidated to become his colleague糖心传媒攁n apprehension that she says was soon dispelled by his generosity to fellow faculty and his engagement of students.
Crimp糖心传媒檚 book 糖心传媒渂rings all the warmth and intellectual rigor of his classroom to the printed page,糖心传媒� she says. 糖心传媒淗e seamlessly balances his art criticism with his emerging activism, without ever losing his warm and compelling voice. It糖心传媒檚 a tour de force.糖心传媒�
