John Edwin Canaday (February 1, 1907 – July 19, 1985) was a leading American art critic, author and

art historian Art history is the study of aesthetic objects and visual expression in historical and stylistic context. Traditionally, the discipline of art history emphasized painting, drawing, sculpture, architecture, ceramics and decorative arts; yet today ...

Early life and education

John Canaday was born in

Fort Scott, Kansas Fort Scott is a city in and the county seat of Bourbon County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 7,552. It is named for Gen. Winfield Scott. The city is located south of Kansas City on the Marmaton ...

, to Franklin and Agnes F. (Musson) Canaday. His family moved to

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

when Canaday was seven and later moved to

San Antonio ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= U.S. state, State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , s ...

, where he attended Main Avenue High School. Canaday entered the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

in 1924 and earned a B.A. degree in French and English literature in 1929. He subsequently studied painting and art history at

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

, where he received an M.A. in 1933. He taught at

Washburn University Washburn University (WU) is a public university in Topeka, Kansas, United States. It offers undergraduate and graduate programs, as well as professional programs in law and business. Washburn has 550 faculty members, who teach more than 6,100 u ...

Topeka Topeka ( ; Kansa: ; iow, Dópikˀe, script=Latn or ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the seat of Shawnee County. It is along the Kansas River in the central part of Shawnee County, in northeast Kansas, in the Central Un ...

in 1933–34; at

Newcomb College H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College, or Newcomb College, was the coordinate women's college of Tulane University located in New Orleans, in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It was founded by Josephine Louise Newcomb in 1886 in memory of her daughter. ...

Tulane University Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private university, private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into ...

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

(1934–36);

Hollins College Hollins University is a private university in Hollins, Virginia. Founded in 1842 as Valley Union Seminary in the historical settlement of Botetourt Springs, it is one of the oldest institutions of higher education for women in the United States ...

Roanoke, Virginia Roanoke ( ) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. At the 2020 census, the population was 100,011, making it the 8th most populous city in the Commonwealth of Virginia and the largest city in Virginia west of Richmond. It is lo ...

(1936–38); and the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...

Charlottesville Charlottesville, colloquially known as C'ville, is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is the county seat of Albemarle County, which surrounds the city, though the two are separate legal entities. It is named after Queen Cha ...

(1938–50). In 1943, he traveled to the

Belgian Congo The Belgian Congo (french: Congo belge, ; nl, Belgisch-Congo) was a Belgian colony in Central Africa from 1908 until independence in 1960. The former colony adopted its present name, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), in 1964. Colo ...

and acted as a French interpreter for the

Bureau of Economic Welfare Bureau ( ) may refer to: Agencies and organizations * Government agency *Public administration * News bureau, an office for gathering or distributing news, generally for a given geographical location * Bureau (European Parliament), the administra ...

. The following year he joined the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

. He served as a

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...

in an air-warning squadron in the Pacific until the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, after which he returned to the

. From 1950 to 1952, Canaday headed the art school at

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

. He worked as chief of the educational division at the

Philadelphia Museum of Art The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMoA) is an art museum originally chartered in 1876 for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The main museum building was completed in 1928 on Fairmount, a hill located at the northwest end of the Benjamin Fr ...

from 1953 to 1959. During this period he wrote the text for Metropolitan Seminars in Art, a widely distributed series of 24 portfolios published between 1958 and 1960 by the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Newspaper career

In 1959, Canaday began a 17-year career as a leading

art critic An art critic is a person who is specialized in analyzing, interpreting, and evaluating art. Their written critiques or reviews contribute to art criticism and they are published in newspapers, magazines, books, exhibition brochures, and catalogue ...

for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''. In his first column on September 6, 1959, he inflamed the art establishment by proclaiming that

Abstract Expressionism Abstract expressionism is a post–World War II art movement in American painting, developed in New York City in the 1940s. It was the first specifically American movement to achieve international influence and put New York at the center of the ...

, the dominant style of the period, allowed "exceptional tolerance for incompetence and deception." Although he acknowledged the talent of the best Abstract Expressionists, he noted that "we have been had" by the "freaks, the charlatans, and the misled who surround this handful of serious and talented artists." Canaday's inaugural column and subsequent articles criticizing this style provoked a much-publicized letter to ''The New York Times'' signed by 49 of the nation's leading art figures, who denounced Canaday as an

agitator Agitator may refer to: Politics *A person who carries out political agitation; see agitation *A member of the Agitators, political movement and elected representatives of soldiers during the English Civil War * Levellers, also called Agitators ...

. "I have trouble vis-à-vis Canaday," one artist wrote. "What he thinks of me, he can print, while what I think of him is unprintable." Other artists and critics, however, championed him as an honest and articulate observer of the art scene, which continued to provide ample targets for his barbed wit over the years.

Author

In addition to writing for the ''Times'', Canaday published a number of influential books, notably '' Mainstreams of Modern Art: David to Picasso'' (1959), winner of the

Athenaeum Literary Award The Athenaeum of Philadelphia, located at 219 S. 6th Street between St. James Place and Locust Street in the Society Hill neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is a special collections library and museum founded in 1814 to collect materials ...

and a popular art history textbook for many years. His experiences as a critic provided the subject matter of two books, ''Embattled Critic: Views on Modern Art'' (1962) and ''Culture Gulch: Notes on Art and Its Public'' in the 1960s (1969). He also wrote ''Keys to Art'', with Katherine H. Canaday (1963), ''The Lives of the Painters'' (1969), ''Baroque Painters'' (1972), ''Late Gothic to Renaissance Painters'' (1972), ''Neoclassic to Post-Impressionist Painters'' (1972), ''My Best Girls: 8 Drawings'' (1972), ''The New York Guide to Dining Out in New York'' (1972), ''The Artful Avocado'' (1973), ''Richard Estes: The Urban Landscape'' (1979), ''What is Art? An Introduction to Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture'' (1980), and ''Ben Shahn, Voices and Visions'' (1981). In the 1940s and 1950s, under the pen name Matthew Head, Canaday wrote seven crime novels: ''The Smell of Money'' (1943), ''The Devil in the Bush'' (1945), ''The Accomplice'' (1949), ''The Cabinda Affair'' (1949), ''The Congo Venus'' (1950), ''Another Man's Life'' (1953), and ''Murder at the Flea Club'' (1955), each originally published by Simon & Schuster of New York. Drawing in part on his experiences in the Congo, he set three of his mysteries in Africa, and they were heralded by one critic as subtly foreshadowing a time of change on the African continent. In 1974, Canaday stepped down from his post as art critic in order to devote more time to writing books, although he continued to write restaurant reviews for the ''Times'' until his retirement in 1977. Canaday taught several courses as a guest lecturer at the

in the spring of 1977. He continued to lecture and to write for such publications as '' Smithsonian'' magazine, ''

The New Republic ''The New Republic'' is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, it attempted to find a balance between "a liberalism centered in hum ...

'', and ''

The New York Times Magazine ''The New York Times Magazine'' is an American Sunday magazine Supplement (publishing), supplement included with the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times''. It features articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted man ...

'' until his death.

Personal life and death

Canaday married Katherine S. Hoover on September 19, 1935, and they had two sons. He died of

pancreatic cancer Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of t ...

in New York City on July 19, 1985.

In popular culture

In the 2014 film ''

Big Eyes ''Big Eyes'' is a 2014 American biographical drama film directed by Tim Burton, written by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, and starring Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz. It is about the relationship between American artist Margaret Keane a ...

'', directed by

Tim Burton Timothy Walter Burton (born August 25, 1958) is an American filmmaker and animator. He is known for his gothic fantasy and horror films such as ''Beetlejuice'' (1988), ''Edward Scissorhands'' (1990), ''The Nightmare Before Christmas'' (1993), ...

, Canaday is portrayed by actor

Terence Stamp Terence Henry Stamp (born 22 July 1938) is an English actor. Stamp is known for his sophisticated villain roles. He was named by ''Empire Magazine'' as one of the 100 Sexiest Film Stars of All Time in 1995. He has received various accolades inc ...

, making derogatory comments on the paintings of

Margaret Keane Margaret D. H. Keane (born Peggy Doris Hawkins, September 15, 1927 – June 26, 2022) was an American artist known for her paintings of subjects with big eyes. She mainly painted women, children, or animals in oil or mixed media. The work achi ...

Notes

*''The New York Times'', July 21, 1985. *''The New Yorker'', January 4, 1964. *''Who's Who in America'', 1984–85.

References

External links

John Canaday Papers
at Syracuse University Special Collections Research Center {{DEFAULTSORT:Canaday, John 1907 births 1985 deaths 20th-century American academics 20th-century American historians 20th-century American journalists 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American novelists American art critics American art historians American crime fiction writers American expatriates in the Belgian Congo American male journalists American magazine journalists American male novelists American newspaper journalists American restaurant critics Crime novelists Critics employed by The New York Times Deaths from cancer in New York (state) Deaths from pancreatic cancer Historians from Kansas Historians from Louisiana Historians from Texas Hollins University faculty Journalists from Dallas Journalists from Kansas Journalists from Louisiana Journalists from San Antonio Journalists from Virginia Military personnel from Dallas Military personnel from Kansas Military personnel from Louisiana Military personnel from San Antonio Military personnel from Virginia Novelists from Kansas Novelists from Louisiana Novelists from Texas Novelists from Virginia People associated with the Metropolitan Museum of Art People associated with the Philadelphia Museum of Art People from Fort Scott, Kansas Tulane University faculty United States Marine Corps officers United States Marine Corps personnel of World War II University of Texas alumni University of Texas faculty University of Virginia faculty Washburn University faculty Writers from Charlottesville, Virginia Writers from New Orleans Yale University alumni