Edward Lucie-Smith, ArtReview critic and poet, dies at 93

Edward Lucie-Smith, the art critic and poet who wrote for ArtReview for nearly three decades, has died. Born in Jamaica in 1933, he moved to England on a scholarship and studied history at Oxford. In London he formed The Group, a poetry collective that rejected modernist trends. He began reviewing for Art News and Review (later ArtReview) in the 1970s, earning £1 per piece while working at Notley's Advertising Agency. He later wrote the critic's diary column for over a decade and profiled Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat. Lucie-Smith authored over a hundred books, including art surveys like Movements in Art since 1945 and erotic art histories. He collaborated with Beryl Cook on a children's book, and Cook painted him as a nude faun. He curated exhibitions including The New British Painting at the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, and retrospectives for the New Orleans Museum of Art. Despite conservative views, he increasingly used his gay identity in art interpretation.