Christopher Knight is an American art critic for the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

''. He was awarded the 2020

Pulitzer Prize for Criticism The Pulitzer Prize for Criticism has been presented since 1970 to a newspaper writer in the United States who has demonstrated 'distinguished criticism'. Recipients of the award are chosen by an independent board and officially administered by C ...

, after being a three-time finalist (1991, 2001 and 2007). He received the Lifetime Achievement Award for Art Journalism from the Dorothy and Leo Rabkin Foundation in 2020, and the 1997

Frank Jewett Mather Frank Jewett Mather Jr. (6 July 1868 – 11 November 1953) was an American art critic and professor. He was the first "modernist" (i.e., post-classicist) professor at the Department of Art and Archaeology, Princeton University. He was a direct desc ...

Award for Distinction in Art Criticism from the

College Art Association The College Art Association of America (CAA) is the principal organization in the United States for professionals in the visual arts, from students to art historians to emeritus faculty. Founded in 1911, it "promotes these arts and their underst ...

, the first journalist to win the award in more than 25 years. Knight has appeared on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

' '' 60 Minutes'',

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

' ''Newshour'', NPR's ''Morning Edition'', ''All Things Considered'' and

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...

, and he was featured in ''The Art of the Steal,'' the 2009 documentary on the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia. He is the author of two books: ''Last Chance for Eden: Selected Art Criticism, 1979-1994,'' published in 1995 by Art Issues Press, and ''Art of the Sixties and Seventies: The Panza Collection,'' published by Rizzoli in 1989 and reissued in 2003. Prior to joining the ''

'' in 1989, Knight served as art critic for the

Los Angeles Herald Examiner The ''Los Angeles Herald Examiner'' was a major Los Angeles daily newspaper, published in the afternoon from Monday to Friday and in the morning on Saturdays and Sundays. It was part of the Hearst syndicate. It was formed when the afternoon ' ...

(1980–1989), as assistant director for public information at the

Los Angeles County Museum of Art The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Page Museum). LACMA was founded in 19 ...

(1979–1980) and as curator of the

Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (or MCASD), in San Diego, California, US, is an art museum focused on the collection, preservation, exhibition, and interpretation of works of art from 1950 to the present. Mission The stated mission of ...

(1976–1979). From 1986 to 1989 he also served as a program advisor to the

Lannan Foundation The Lannan Literary Awards are a series of awards and literary fellowships given out in various fields by the Lannan Foundation. Established in 1989, the awards are meant "to honor both established and emerging writers whose work is of exceptional ...

with Museum of Modern Art curator

John Elderfield John Elderfield (born 25 April 1943) was Chief Curator of Painting and Sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, from 2003 to 2008.''Who’s Who 2011'', A&C Black, 2011 He served as the Allen R. Adler, Class of 1967, Distinguished Curator a ...

and art collector and philanthropist Gifford Philips. In 1999 Knight was awarded an

Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts Doctor of Fine Arts (D.F.A.) is a doctoral degree in fine arts, may be given as an honorary degree (a degree ''honoris causa'') or an earned professional degree (in the UK). Description Doctoral programmes leading to DFAs are of equivalent leve ...

degree from the

Atlanta College of Art The Atlanta College of Art (ACA) was a private four-year art college located in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1905, it was the oldest art college in the Southeast when it was sold out by the Woodruff Arts Center board of directors to the Sava ...

. He received his Master's degree in art history from the State University of New York in 1976, and was named Distinguished Alumnus of

Hartwick College Hartwick College is a private liberal arts college in Oneonta, New York. The institution's origin is rooted in the founding of Hartwick Seminary in 1797 through the will of John Christopher Hartwick. In 1927, the Seminary moved to expand into a ...

( Oneonta, New York) in 1999.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Knight, Christopher American art critics Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) Atlanta College of Art alumni