''Arts Magazine'' was a prominent monthly

magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...

devoted to fine art. It was established in 1926 and last published in 1992.

History

Early years

Launched in 1926 and originally titled ''The Art Digest,'' it was printed semi-monthly from October to May and monthly from June to September. Its stated purpose was to provide complete coverage of arts exhibitions in America, collated from all relevant news sources.

Growth

''Art Digest'' was later purchased by James N. Rosenberg and Jonathan Marshall (who would subsequently own and publish the '' Scottsdale Daily Progress'' newspaper). In 1954, the title was changed to Arts Digest; then, in 1955, the title was changed to ''ARTS''. The word "Digest" was dropped (as explained by Marshall in the September 15, 1955 issue) due to newer features, design modernization, and a widening audience. "We realized that there was a great need in this country for a serious art magazine to serve the growing public," the announcement stated. "Perhaps," he continued, "the best description of our editorial aims in the new ''ARTS'' can be found in the words ''interesting'', ''unbiased'', and ''authoritative''." Contributors to that issue included J.P. Hodin,

Martica Sawin Martica Sawin is an author and art critic. She is the author of ''Surrealism in Exile and the Beginning of the New York School'' (MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1995) and surveys on artists such as Roberto Matta Roberto Sebastián Antonio ...

Robert Rosenblum Robert Rosenblum (July 24, 1927 – December 6, 2006) was an American art historian and curator known for his influential and often irreverent scholarship on European and American art of the mid-eighteenth to 20th centuries. Biography Rosenblum wa ...

Ada Louise Huxtable Ada Louise Huxtable (née Landman; March 14, 1921 – January 7, 2013) was an architecture critic and writer on architecture. Huxtable established architecture and urban design journalism in North America and raised the public's awareness of the ...

, and

Dore Ashton Dore Ashton (May 21, 1928 – January 30, 2017) was a writer, professor and critic on modern and contemporary art. Biography Ashton was born in Newark, New Jersey on May 21, 1928. She was the author or editor of more than thirty books on art, in ...

, whose article "What is 'avant-garde'?" was the feature essay. After Marshall and Rosenberg sold it in 1958, the publication was finally named ''Arts Magazine'' in 1961''.'' Regular contributors at the time included Donald Judd, Helen De Mott,

Sidney Tillim Sidney Tillim (June 16, 1925 – August 16, 2001) was an American artist and art critic, known for his maverick painting and independent point of view on modern art in post-war America. Best remembered for his revival of history painting in the ...

, Annette Michelson,

Michael Fried Michael Martin Fried (born April 12, 1939 in New York City) is a modernist art critic and art historian. He studied at Princeton University and Harvard University and was a Rhodes Scholar at Merton College, Oxford. He is the J.R. Herbert Boone Pr ...

, Lawrence Alloway,

Jan Butterfield Jan Butterfield (1937-2000) was an American art writer, teacher and critic. She wrote extensively on twentieth century installation and craft artists, focused on those who worked in California and the American West. Early life and education Bu ...

, and April Kingsley. The magazine's offices were in

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 ...

and it was last published by Art Digest, Co. The magazine was glossy and priced at $4.00 a copy in 1981. The April 1981 issue (see photo) had a cover story called "

Gertrude Greene Gertrude Glass Greene (1904 – November 25, 1956) was an abstract sculptor and painter from New York City. Gertrude and her husband, artist Balcomb Greene, were heavily involved in political activism to promote mainstream acceptance of abstrac ...

: Constructions of the 1930s and 1940s", written by

Jacqueline Moss Jacqueline Moss (1927–2005) was an American art historian, lecturer, writer and art critic. She was the curator of education at the Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art (since renamed) and lectured widely on modern and 20th-century art. Her arti ...

Closure

The last issue to reach subscribers was March 1992, featuring Alexandra Anderson-Spivy on artist Rackstraw Downes and

Annie Sprinkle Annie M. Sprinkle (born Ellen F. Steinberg on July 23, 1954) is an American certified sexologist, performance artist, former sex worker, and advocate for sex work and health care. Citing: Sprinkle has worked as a prostitute, sex educator, femi ...

on Jeff Koons. The April issue was published but never mailed. Editors at the time included Dore Ashton,

Jerry Saltz Jerry Saltz (born February 19, 1951, in Chicago, Illinois) is an American art critic. Since 2006, he has been senior art critic and columnist for '' New York'' magazine. Formerly the senior art critic for ''The Village Voice'', he received the Pu ...

Barry Schwabsky Barry Schwabsky (b. Paterson, New Jersey, in 1957) is an American art critic, art historian and poet. He has taught at the School of Visual Arts, Pratt Institute, New York University, Yale University, and Goldsmiths College, among others. Art cr ...

, Bill Jones,

Jeremy Gilbert-Rolfe Jeremy Gilbert-Rolfe (born August 4th, 1945) is a British-born American painter, art critic, theorist, and educator, born in Royal Tunbridge Wells, United Kingdom. In 1968, he moved to the United States. Gilbert-Rolfe holds several degrees, incl ...

, Peter Selz,

John Yau John Yau (born June 5, 1950) is an American poet and critic who lives in New York City. He received his B.A. from Bard College in 1972 and his M.F.A. from Brooklyn College in 1978. He has published over 50 books of poetry, artists' books, fiction ...

Elizabeth Frank Elizabeth Frank (born September 14, 1945) is an American novelist, biographer, art critic and translator. She has been a member of the literature faculty of Bard College since 1982 and is the Joseph E. Harry Professor of Modern Languages and Lite ...

, and Jeanne Siegel.

Revival

As of 2020, the magazine is in the process of a revival. A new team of writers from leading media publications (e.g.

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 ...

) and universities ( Vanderbilt,

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

) has been assembled and website in developed and prepared for the official launch.https://artsmagazine.com/

References

{{Reflist

External links

Article about Louise Nevelson
from ''Art Digest'', November 15, 1943. Louise Nevelson papers.

Archives of American Art The Archives of American Art is the largest collection of primary resources documenting the history of the visual arts in the United States. More than 20 million items of original material are housed in the Archives' research centers in Washingt ...

. Retrieved November 6, 2011. Visual arts magazines published in the United States Monthly magazines published in the United States Defunct magazines published in the United States Magazines established in 1926 Magazines disestablished in 1992 Magazines published in New York City