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Richard Dorment, (born 1946) is a British
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 ...
and exhibition organiser. He worked as chief art critic for '' The Daily Telegraph'' from 1986 until 2015.


Early life

Dorment was born in the United States in 1946. He graduated cum laude from Princeton University in 1968Who's Who (2015) where he studied art history. His post-graduate work was at Columbia University where he was a faculty fellow from 1968 until 1972. He completed his doctorate at Columbia University in 1975 with a dissertation on Edward Burne-Jones's mosaics for the American Church in Rome.


Career

Dorment worked as assistant curator in the department of European painting 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 ...
. He then moved to London where he wrote a ''Catalogue of British Painting in the Philadelphia Museum of Art'' in 1986 and a biography of the British sculptor ''Alfred Gilbert''. He became chief art critic for '' The Daily Telegraph'' in 1986. After his retirement in 2015, he published a collection of his reviews entitled ''Exhibitionist: Writing about Art for a Daily Newspaper'' in 2016. In 1989, Dorment served on the judging panel for the Turner Prize. He has also been a member of the Advisory Committee of the Government Art Collection, a member of the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art, and a member of the British Council's Advisory Committee for the Visual Arts. He was a trustee of the Wallace Collection and has been a trustee of the Watts Gallery since 1996. Dorment is a contributor for '' The New York Review of Books'', and has also written for '' The Burlington Magazine'', '' The Times Literary Supplement'', and '' Literary Review''. In 2009, he wrote the first of a series of articles in ''The New York Review of Books'' calling into question the methods and decisions of the Andy Warhol Foundation's Art Authentication Board. In 2011, the chairman of the Andy Warhol Foundation's board of directors announced that the Art Authentication Board would close. The following year, the Foundation announced it would be selling the Warhol works it owned.


Exhibitions

In 1994 until 1995, Dorment was a co-curator for the
James McNeill Whistler James Abbott McNeill Whistler (; July 10, 1834July 17, 1903) was an American painter active during the American Gilded Age and based primarily in the United Kingdom. He eschewed sentimentality and moral allusion in painting and was a leading pr ...
exhibition at the Tate Gallery. He curated the Alfred Gilbert: Sculptor and Goldsmith exhibit at the
Royal Academy of Arts The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its purpo ...
in 1986. He contributed to the Victorian High Renaissance exhibition catalogue in 1978.


Honours and awards

Dorment was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London (FSA) in 2013. In the
2014 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2014 were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrati ...
, he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) "for services to the arts". Dorment won the Hawthornden Prize for Art Criticism in Great Britain in 1992, in 2000 he was named Critic of the Year in the British Press Awards, and in 2014 his review of the reopening of the
Rijksmuseum The Rijksmuseum () is the national museum of the Netherlands dedicated to Dutch arts and history and is located in Amsterdam. The museum is located at the Museum Square in the borough of Amsterdam South, close to the Van Gogh Museum, the St ...
won the
Holland Prize Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former province on the western coast of the Netherlands. From the 10th to the 16th c ...
.


Personal life

Dorment married the novelist
Harriet Waugh Harriet(t) may refer to: * Harriet (name), a female name ''(includes list of people with the name)'' Places *Harriet, Queensland, rural locality in Australia * Harriet, Arkansas, unincorporated community in the United States * Harriett, Texas, ...
in 1985 and has two children from a previous marriage.


Selected publications

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dorment, Richard The Daily Telegraph people Living people British art critics Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom Commanders of the Order of the British Empire 1946 births Princeton University alumni Columbia University alumni