Remembering Peter Schjeldahl On Friday, The New Yorker’s longtime art critic, Peter Schjeldahl, died at age eighty, following a three-year battle with cancer. As the magazine’s editor, David Remnick, notes in an appreciative Postscript, Schjeldahl wrote almost till the end, publishing his last review—about an “immense, flabbergasting retrospective” of the photographer Wolfgang Tillmans—less than three weeks earlier. Despite his age, despite his illness, Schjeldahl bestowed the magazine with some of his most indelible writing during his final years. A rare personal essay, “The Art of Dying,” recounts his cancer diagnosis and touches on earlier struggles, including alcoholism, in a manner that is both unsentimental and packed with feeling. Although Schjeldahl held his opinions resolutely, his approach was “openhearted,” Remnick observes. “He knew how to praise critically, and, to the end, he was receptive to new things, new artists.” He infused his reviews with visual insight and historical context, making his case with care whether he liked the work or not. To celebrate Schjeldahl’s contributions to The New Yorker, we’re sharing some of his most memorable pieces below. | 
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