Calvin Tomkins, Influential Art Writer for The New Yorker, Dies at Age 100

Calvin Tomkins, a prominent writer who chronicled the contemporary art world for over six decades through profiles in The New Yorker, has died at 100. His death was announced by David Remnick, editor of The New Yorker, though the location was not specified. Tomkins joined the magazine in 1960 and became known for his accessible, insightful writing that documented seismic shifts in postwar art, from Pop art to Minimalism. He began his art writing career somewhat accidentally in 1959 when assigned to interview Marcel Duchamp for Newsweek. His work, compiled in a multi-volume collection in 2019, has been compared to that of Renaissance chronicler Giorgio Vasari for its historical significance. Tomkins' papers are held by the Museum of Modern Art.