The New Yorker has announced Jackson Arn as its new art critic. Arn, who has written for that publication as well as for others, including Artforum, Art in America, The Drift, the Los Angeles Review of Books, and The Nation, succeeds Peter Schjeldahl in the role. Schjeldahl, who died of lung cancer this past October, wrote for The New Yorker from 1998 until shortly before his death, by which time he had gained a reputation as one of the world’s most respected art critics.
“I’m thrilled to share the news that Jackson Arn has joined the New Yorker as our art critic,” wrote the magazine’s editor, David Remnick, in a memo to staff. “He’s already done some wonderful work for us, including reviews of a Georgia O’Keeffe show at MOMA, a van Gogh exhibit at the Met, and a new book about the mid-century art scene that flourished just around the corner from the office. I’m so pleased that he’s officially joining us in this important role.”
A native of Scottsdale, Arizona, Arn graduated from Columbia University in 2015 with a bachelor’s degree in English and literature. While still an undergraduate, he was an assistant to noted Indian literary critic Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak. Since finishing college, he has made a name for himself as a sharp and witty writer given to evocative descriptions, much as his storied predecessor was. Besides working as a writer, he held various roles at the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens and at the New York Film Festival. He has additionally served as a programmer at Columbia University’s WKCR radio for the past decade, focusing mainly on jazz and on interviews with artists.
