Todd Cronan

Todd Cronan is an educator and author. He is professor at Emory University. His most recent book is Nothing Permanent: Modern Architecture in California. He is editor-in-chief of nonsite.org.

Whatever we mean by historicism, at the very least it means that the conditions in which a work was made play a role in interpreting the work.1 In this sense, art criticism is always historicist. And because there is no other option, saying “always” before it is always useless.
Henri Matisse, Bathers by a River, 1909–17. Oil on canvas, 102 1/2 × 154 3/16 inches. © 2023 Succession H. Matisse / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

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