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Canaday, John
Canaday, John (1907–1985). American writer, born in Fort Scott, Kansas. He studied at the University of Texas at Austin (BA, 1929), then at Yale (MA in the history of art, 1933), and after private study in Paris for several years taught at various colleges in the USA. During the Second World War he served in the marines. From 1953 to 1959 he was director of educational activities at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and from 1959 to 1977 he was art news editor for the New York Times. In this position he often attacked contemporary art, particularly Abstract Expressionism (for an example of his opinions, see NEWMAN), and he became a controversial figure; in March 1961 a group of 49 artists, critics, dealers, and so on sent a joint letter to the Times deploring his writings, particularly his use of words such as ‘charlatan’ and ‘fraud'. However, like Brian Sewell in a similar situation 33 years later, Canaday had strong public support (after two weeks' correspondence, the Times reported 311 letters defending him and 56 in favour of his critics). Although he disliked much of the art of his own time, Canaday wrote sensitively about earlier 20th-century art, notably in his book Mainstreams of Modern Art (1959). In the preface to the second edition (1981), Canaday describes this as ‘a history of painting and sculpture in the nineteenth century with their immediate genesis in the late eighteenth and immediate continuations in the first decades of the twentieth’ (the first edition was rather broader in scope, taking the account further into the 20th century and also including a section on architecture). It is one of the best introductory books of its type—serious and well-informed, but written in an attractive, accessible style. His other books include Embattled Critic: Views on Modern Art (1962); The Lives of the Painters (4 vols., 1969), a series of short biographies of artists from the Middle Ages to Post-Impressionism; and Metropolitan Seminars in Art, issued by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, in 24 monthly portfolios in 1958–60 and described as ‘assisted self-education’ (revised and extended in book form as What is Art? (1980)). Canaday also wrote mystery novels under the pseudonym Matthew Head (seven were published between 1943 and 1955, three of them featuring a female medical missionary in Africa as the detective). He was a noted gourmet and from 1974 worked as restaurant critic for the New York Times.
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IAN CHILVERS. "Canaday, John." A Dictionary of Twentieth-Century Art. 1999. Encyclopedia.com. 29 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. IAN CHILVERS. "Canaday, John." A Dictionary of Twentieth-Century Art. 1999. Encyclopedia.com. (May 29, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O5-CanadayJohn.html IAN CHILVERS. "Canaday, John." A Dictionary of Twentieth-Century Art. 1999. Retrieved May 29, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O5-CanadayJohn.html |
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John Canaday
John Canaday , 1907–85, American art critic, b. Fort Scott, Kans. A columnist for the New York Times, Canaday was noted for taking conservative positions in the art world. He was an authority on 19th-century art. His works include Mainstreams of Modern Art (1961), Culture Gulch (1969), and Lives of the Painters (4 vol., 1969). He also wrote restaurant reviews for the Times and mysteries under the pseudonym Mathew Head. |
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"John Canaday." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. 29 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "John Canaday." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. (May 29, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Canaday.html "John Canaday." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Retrieved May 29, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Canaday.html |
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Canaday, John
Canaday, John. See Derain.
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Cite this article
IAN CHILVERS. "Canaday, John." The Oxford Dictionary of Art. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 29 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. IAN CHILVERS. "Canaday, John." The Oxford Dictionary of Art. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. (May 29, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O2-CanadayJohn.html IAN CHILVERS. "Canaday, John." The Oxford Dictionary of Art. 2004. Retrieved May 29, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O2-CanadayJohn.html |
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Canaday, John
Canaday, John. See Derain.
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Cite this article
IAN CHILVERS. "Canaday, John." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. 29 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. IAN CHILVERS. "Canaday, John." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. (May 29, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O3-CanadayJohn.html IAN CHILVERS. "Canaday, John." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists. 2003. Retrieved May 29, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O3-CanadayJohn.html |
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