Should Art Critics Collect?

If they have enough disposable income to buy a few things, how can they not? If you love art, you need to gaze at some of it on your own walls.

But kudos to Jen Graves of the Seattle's alternative newspaper, The Stranger, for having the courage to explore in depth an ethical quagmire that may discomfit some writing colleagues, but that needs to be discussed.

She got into the topic of critics' personal collections through a worst-case scenario: a local colleague who allegedly requested gifts of art from the artists he reviewed. Since I have not independently attempted to verify the truth of these allegations, and since the critic denies it, I'll let you click the above link to learn the name and the details.

Of course critics should never ask artists for art. Nor do I believe it's ever acceptable to accept a gift of art, even after a review has already been published. I further believe that there is an inherent conflict of interest in critics' collecting art in the fields about which they write.

In practice, though, I'm not quite that pure: I can't deny myself possession of at least some pieces for my personal delight. I own some contemporary art, all of it purchased.

I am a very small collector: I have just a few things that my husband and I have bought over many years. Since I'm primarily a journalist, not a critic, I'm only a sporadic gallery-hopper and my face is not well known among the dealers in my price range. I believe that the few I've done business with did not know who I was when I bought.

I would never accept a gift from a source; I would certainly never accept the gift of an artwork from an artist or dealer. And there's one more stricture I place upon myself: I will not write about an artist whose work I own. I consider that to be a conflict of interest as well.

Since I own relatively inexpensive works and only a few, that's never created much of a problem. When I win the megabucks lottery and buy this, I may have to change my reportorial beat. Maybe I'll write about tennis.

Jen goes into great detail about practices in the field, including the policies of specific publications. She has broken the taboo against criticizing colleagues. I'd call it a must-read.