Hot, Cold, Heavy, Light, 100 Art Writings 1988-2018 (Hardcover)
Peter Schjeldahl was the art critic for The New Yorker for 24 years until his death in 2022. He was a finalist for the 2022 Pulitzer Prize in Criticism. Prior to that, he wrote art criticism for Seven Days and the Village Voice. In 2019, Abrams published his Hot, Cold, Heavy, Light: 100 Art Writings, 1988-2018, which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award.
“Peter Schjeldahl is a great artist. . . . His specialty is the searching, summative essay of a few pages on a single artist. . . I know that art is only a small part of living, but it’s also true that there are people whose makeshift faith lies in the best things human beings have made. Schjeldahl grants those artifacts a corresponding dignity, with all the meaning we knew they had but could not describe ourselves. It’s astonishing; it astonishes.”
— Charles Finch
“Bruce is no longer The Boss; Peter Schjeldahl is! Hot, Cold, Heavy, Light is the apex of artistic criticism and commentary.”
— Steve Martin
“The great New Yorker art critic writes like an angel about everyone from Vermeer to Picasso, Donatello to Andy Warhol, in beautiful, enjoyable, accessible essays across 30 years.”
— Philadelphia Inquirer
“This is a rapturous read for art lovers and all who appreciate dynamic critical essays.”
— Booklist
— Charles Finch
“Bruce is no longer The Boss; Peter Schjeldahl is! Hot, Cold, Heavy, Light is the apex of artistic criticism and commentary.”
— Steve Martin
“The great New Yorker art critic writes like an angel about everyone from Vermeer to Picasso, Donatello to Andy Warhol, in beautiful, enjoyable, accessible essays across 30 years.”
— Philadelphia Inquirer
“This is a rapturous read for art lovers and all who appreciate dynamic critical essays.”
— Booklist