Reviews were written in the fall 2024 seminar “Writing Art Criticism” taught by Prof. Christine Mehring, which introduced students to the genre of art criticism: its practices, its history, and its role within the discipline of art history. Art critics often produce the very first or alternative discourses on art, shaping subsequent thinking and historiography. Accordingly, art criticism is a genre of writing that requires particular skills, for example identifying why and how artworks matter, taking a fresh look at something familiar or developing a set of ideas even if unfamiliar with a subject, expressing strong yet sound opinions, and writing in impeccable and engaging ways. 

To learn to write art criticism, we read and discussed critics ranging from Denis Diderot to Katherine Kuh and from Lucy Lippard to Jerry Saltz. Following in situ discussions of Chicago exhibitions, students wrote six 300-1000-word reviews of exhibitions in museums and galleries, monographic and group shows, small and big, focused on contemporary and historical art practices. They rewrote three reviews based on edits of language and content from instructor, peers, and visiting critics. We thank Ina Blom, Lo Drexelius, Jenny Harris, Helen Molesworth, Solveig Nelson, Farah Peterson, and Maggie Taft for sharing their writing expertise; Emerson Bowyer, John Corbett, Jim Dempsey, Caitlin Haskell, Ashley Janke, Jack Schneider, and Laura Steward for conversations about and in their exhibitions; and Chicago Studies for supporting our critics’ visits and meetings throughout Chicago. Reviews appearing here were selected by Prof. Christine Mehring with input from some visiting critics.