Irving Sandler

Irving Sandler
Born(1925-07-22)July 22, 1925
New York City, U.S.
DiedJune 2, 2018(2018-06-02) (aged 92)
New York City, U.S.
Occupation
  • Art critic
  • art historian
  • writer
  • educator
  • curator
EducationU. of Pennsylvania
New York University
Alma materTemple University

Irving Sandler (July 22, 1925 – June 2, 2018) was an American art critic, art historian, and educator. He provided numerous first hand accounts of American art, beginning with abstract expressionism in the 1950s. He also managed the Tanager Gallery downtown and co-ordinated the New York Artists Club (the "Club") of the New York School from 1955 to its demise in 1962[1] as well as documenting numerous conversations at the Cedar Street Tavern and other art venues. Al Held named him, "Our Boswell of the New York scene,"[2] and Frank O'Hara immortalized him as the "balayeur des artistes"[3] (sweeper-up after artists) because of Sandler's constant presence and habit of taking notes at art world events. Sandler saw himself as an impartial observer of this period, as opposed to polemical advocates such as Clement Greenberg and Harold Rosenberg.

  1. ^ Sandler, 2003.
  2. ^ Sandler, Irving, 1925-2018. (2003). A sweeper-up after artists : a memoir. New York, N.Y.: Thames & Hudson. ISBN 0-500-23813-8. OCLC 53392642.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ Frank O'Hara, "Adieu to Norman,/Bonjour to Joan and Jean-Paul," from The Collected Poems of Frank O'Hara (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1971), © by Maureen Granville-Smith.