Artlyst Chief Reviewer Edward Lucie-Smith Dies at 93

Edward Lucie-Smith, a British art critic, poet, and author originally from Jamaica, has passed away at the age of 93. For the past fifteen years, he held the position of Chief Reviewer at Artlyst, where he wrote thought-provoking pieces that both challenged norms and honored artistic accomplishments. Born in Kingston, Jamaica in 1933, he relocated to Britain in 1946, later attending King's School Canterbury and Merton College Oxford, before serving in the Royal Air Force. Transitioning from a decade in advertising, he became a freelance writer in 1966. His poetry collection, A Tropical Childhood and Other Poems (1961), earned him the John Llewellyn Rhys Memorial Prize. He also authored significant art history texts, including Movements in Art since 1945 (1969) and Symbolist Art (1972). Artlyst featured a retrospective of his key opinion pieces from 2017 to 2021, addressing various topics, including Ai Weiwei and the Turner Prize.