The Perpetual Guest

“With great skill and generosity, Barry Schwabsky threads a fine needle in writing accessible art criticism for a general audience about a wide range of artists and histories, without making any concessions to his passions … offering his readers an erudite and independent voice as a guide and a resource.”
—Mira Schor, artist and author of A Decade of Negative Thinking: Essays on Art, Politics and Daily Life

“Schwabsky’s prose is elegant, erudite, and to the point, fueled by unprejudiced judgment and a great sense of observation. What he wrote of Degas applies eminently to him, too: ‘He saw things that had never been noticed before, little gestures that are insignificant but that are touching in a strangely anonymous way because they are simply human.’”
—Thierry de Duve, author of Sewn in the Sweatshops of Marx

“Like many of the best critics, Schwabsky has the ability to describe things so precisely that no explicit evaluation is necessary. Every time an idea is introduced, it is allowed to hold the reader’s attention for the time it takes to ground a judgement, and no longer. This gentle rhythm gives the essays an unillusioned clarity and undogmatic authority rarely found in writing about art.”
—Malcolm Bull, author of Anti-Nietzsche (in praise of Words for Art)