A documentary about America's last two staff art critics has been released: House of Criticism, directed by Alison Chernick

A documentary about America's last two staff art critics has been released: House of Criticism, directed by Alison Chernick. The film tells the story of the lives of Roberta Smith and Jerry Saltz.

Smith joined The New York Times in 1986 on a part-time basis; in 2011 she became the first woman to serve as the newspaper's co-chief art critic, and she left in 2024, while this film was being shot. Her method took shape under the influence of the minimalist Donald Judd. On the recommendation of a school counsellor she entered the Whitney's independent programme, where she was accepted because Judd agreed to become her mentor and personal assistant, and she later edited a collection of his criticism.

The film is about the disappearance of this profession. It concerns the last two full-time art critic posts in the USA, while Saltz's columns appear ever more rarely, giving way to short videos made to order for the magazine.

Smith herself held that a critic receives power from readers and does not seize it, building a trust that they may withdraw at any moment