Milton Esterow, award-winning journalist, owned and editor Artnews He died on Friday at the age of 97. His death was confirmed by his daughter, Judith Esterow, who previously worked as a colleague publisher for the magazine. She did not state the reason.
Robin Cembalest serves as executive editor in social media post Artnews Esterow wrote under Esterow: “Milton trained generations of editors and writers, published Scoop after Scoop, won awards and was proud of the magazine’s ruthless investigation into the impact of journalism, especially when reparating the Holocaust War looting.”
“His passing marks the end of an era for art magazines and art journalism,” she added.
Estero bought it Artnews 1972 Newsweekwas a division of the Washington Post Corporation at the time and owned it until 2014 Artnews Sold to Sergey Skaterschikov in 2014. (Two years later, Peter Brant acquired the publication, and he also owned it. American Art;These two publications have been owned by Penske Media Corporation since 2018. ) ArtnewsEsterow transformed the magazine into a news-centric entity, injecting the publication into a few years after its critics helped define abstract expressionism and pop music in the post-war era.
Artnews Continue to gain national recognition for some of its investigation reports, some of which were written by Esterow himself. Under his leadership, the magazine also introduces the annual Artnews The list of top 200 collectors in 1990 will be released this fall. List of attention today Artnewscoverage.
“Milton’s excellent journalism is very important to magazines,” said Artnews editor-in-chief Sarah Douglas, said.
One can easily enumerate many of Estro’s achievements. In 2023 New York Times At the age of 94, the profile claimed to have written more than 6,000 articles in his lifetime, and after the post was published, he continued to write more through the 1950 Royal Typewriter in 1950. Under his leadership, Artnews Winning a National Magazine Award (General Excellence Award in 1981) and two George Polk Awards (Cultural Reports in 1980 and 1991).
But Esterow did his job with a modest attitude that was not overlooked by outside observers: critic Ben Davis once wrote that he was “almost not a flashy guy.” In his newsroom, he is both called the cultivation of existence Artnews. (One of the data packets like this is the writer, when he was a trainee.)
The main content of the package is a 1957 avant-garde article about art historian Meyer Schapiro, the art historian, who is a 1957 essay. Artnews. Esterow once said, “maybe the only genius I know.” After taking over, Esterow tried to convince Schapiro to agree to the profile, but always received answers that he was too busy. According to an article in 2007 ArtnewsTop 10 articles. Schapiro finally agreed after nearly a decade, and Esterow published an article by journalist Helen Epstein in 1983.
Milton Esterow was born in New York in 1928 and grew up in Brooklyn. He showed an early preference for journalism, and even wrote his own newspapers as a child, writing them by hand.
He attended Brooklyn College, although he was a student, New York Times. His first mission was: to go to Times Square to buy horse betting sheets for the executive editor.
Esterow went on to marry Jackie Esterow, who has two daughters, Judith and Deborah. Milton and Jackie have been together for 74 years. She died earlier this year.
In 1948, Esterow was appointed as a journalist eracausing him to drop out of school. “this era Newsroom,” Esterow continued to recall, “It was my journalism school. ”He initially focused on crime and then turned his attention to art.
Esterow’s approach is an unusual approach to his era, involving the view of artistic stories as occasions for investigating news. And the others are era Esterow watched his work and plugged in, proving that he was very skilled. In 1964, he published a story about European art plunder in the years after World War II. The report has been created era– The rarity of art stories in the time and present.
He was promoted to assistant to director of cultural news era In 1968, although he continued to lead the publishing department of the Kennedy Art Gallery soon after.
Then, in 1972, he led an eight-person investor group Artnews. The magazine was mainly committed to criticism at the time. It was at the heart of the New York art world in the 1950s, but its readership was reduced. Knowing it needed a new focus, Esterow let go of nearly everyone in the magazine and continues to bring in a fresh group of employees. “The art world is fascinating and mysterious,” Estero told era On the occasion of the acquisition. “It’s also underestimated. The real desire for artistic information, the publication is not satisfactory.” (Not everyone is happy. Thomas B. Hess, and then still Artnewssaid: “Losing art news is a loss of my self.”)
His leadership Artnewstogether with his daughter Judith, put the magazine in a new course, and his influence was most evident in the investigative works that began to be published. From 1984, one started with Esterow’s tip: an Austrian monastery has many Nazi masterpieces that no one could visit. Andrew Decker was assigned to this article, and the article became one of many dedicated to restoring the original state.
Esterow’s fascination with the behind-the-scenes stunts of the art world is one of the reasons why he began to earn a list of top 200 collectors in 1990. The public is informed that the wealthy are buying art, but there is little understanding of why. Esterow told NPR in 2009: “Collectors are certainly big consumers, but there are many different collections at the same time. Some collectors are happy, some are happy, some are rarely tormented. Some collectors rarely buy, while others are unable to help themselves. He wants to answer this question for himself and others.
back ArtnewsIn 2014, Esterow has been doing things like Art newspaper and New York Timesthe latter paper has been publishing his article last spring. He gave up Artnews– As he said, after he vowed to “let it go some light”, he demonstrated his dedication to the craft.
He once said that he did not regret spending a career investigating the art world, except for one: “It didn’t help my tennis game, but it’s another story.”
