What books should be in any personal library of art history and more importantly art critique?

Question

I have been suggested Derrida and Foucault (I don't know which books). What other important art critics have written important books.

Answer 1

Your mentioning Derrida and Foucault makes me think you mean aestheticians rather than art critics or art historians. If so, in addtion to ones already mentioned, I think two others who should be included (in fact, I would prefer them to ones mentioned so far) are Susanne Langer [1], especially Philosophy in a New Key and Feeling and Form: A Theory of Art and Mikhail Bakhtin [2], especially Towards a Philosophy of the Act and The Dialogic Imagination (as well as Michael Holquist, Dialogism: Bakhtin and His World).

But if you are interested in art criticism and art history, from the layman's point of view, I think the two best 20th century critics are John Canaday and Robert Hughes. Both were practicing critics (Canaday for the New York Times; Hughes for Time Magazine), who collected their work in historical surveys, especially of 20th century art. Canaday's Mainstreams of Modern Art [3] covers modern art from the start of Romanticism in the 1700s to Cubism and Abstract Expressionism in the early 20th century. Robert Hughes [4], the Australian art critic, is probably best known for The Fatal Shore, his best-selling history of Australia, but the works of art criticism that I would recommend for the general reader are Shock of the New and American Visions, both of which were written to accompany his television series of the same titles. They are very readable, but perceptive, even acerbic in their critical views.

Finally, I think the artist/critics Robert Motherwell and Barnett Newman and their colleagues who were the critical supporters and definers of abstract expressionism, especially the New York School of Art, deserve particular attention. [5]

You realize, of coure, that there are literally hundreds of aestheticians, including some art critics and historians, whose work has been influential on modern and post-modern thinking about art and artists [6], for example, especially Rudolf Arnheim, Art and Visual Perception [7],

Answer 2

foucault is always the key to any social science I think (Discipline and punish is my favourite). Earlier works, but I think necessary: the "frankfurt school"ers. Specificly: Walter Benjamin and Theodore Adorno. MAybe not a basic work, but John Berger's "ways of seeing" is always enlightening. And also: Georg Lukacs, Tery Eagleton,

Answer 3

yes Foucault. look up anyone who writes about aesthetics, the concept of beauty, etc. i think Hegel is one as well. even Aristotle. sorry, i used to know more but it's been awhile. also good luck, because some of them are pretty hard reads.

as far as other books, it depends on your area of specialty. there are recommended specialists in every art area of the world.