Peter Schjeldahl

Peter Charles Schjeldahl (; March 20, 1942 – October 21, 2022) was an American art critic, poet, and educator. He was noted for being the head art critic at The New Yorker, having earlier written for The Village Voice, ARTnews, and The New York Times. Early life and education Schjeldahl was born in Fargo, North Dakota, on March 20, 1942. His father, Gilmore, was the inventor of the airsickness bag, and whose company produced NASA’s first communications satellite; his mother, Charlene (Hanson), was Gilmore's office manager. Schjeldahl was raised in small towns throughout his home state and Minnesota. He studied at Carleton College from 1962 to 1964, and at The New School. He began his professional writing career as a reporter in 1962 at The Jersey Journal, in Jersey City, and in Minnesota and Iowa. Art critic Schjeldahl traveled to Paris in 1964 and remained there for a year before settling in New York City in 1965. Upon moving to New York he worked as an art critic for ARTnews, The New York Times, The Village Voice (1990 to 1998), and 7 Days (The Cooper Union). In 1998 he joined The New Yorker where he was the head art critic. His writings also appeared in Artforum, Art in America, The New York Times Magazine, Vogue, and Vanity Fair. During his career, Schjeldahl wrote several books of poetry as well as art criticism. He published his final book, Hot, Cold, Heavy, Light: 100 Art Writings, 1988–2018, in June 2019. He also taught at Harvard University in the Department of Visual and Environmental Studies for four years during the late 1990s and early 2000s. Poet Schjeldahl's poetry falls in line with many of the characteristic themes and styles of the New York School. As a contemporary postmodern poet, Schjeldahl believed that poetry should be enjoyed and understood by all readers. In an interview with the Virginia Commonwealth University's Blackbird, Schjeldahl commented on how "there are no rewards in being obscure or abstruse or overbearing."