Named one of the Best Books of the Year by the New Yorker. The complete last essays of
acclaimed writer Peter Schjeldahl the great New Yorker art critic and Pulitzer Prize finalist.
"Sensitive and moving. Schjeldahl wrote until the end. We can be grateful for that because we
have this book." (Dwight Garner New York Times)Foreword by Steve Martin * Introduction by
Jarrett Earnest When the New Yorker art critic Peter Schjeldahl published his widely read
autobiographical essay "The Art of Dying" in December 2019 he reported that he had lung cancer
and his oncologist had given him six months to live but his experimental treatment was showing
some improvement. "These extra months " he wrote "are a luxury that I hope to have put to good
use." And he did. The Art of Dying: Writings 2019-2022 begins with that essay and collects all
46 pieces that he wrote for the magazine before his death in October 2022. These last works
express Schjeldahl's hard-won reflections on art and life against the backdrop of an intensely
anxious period in America spanning the pandemic the George Floyd protests the 2020
presidential election and the war in Ukraine. Schjeldahl who was the leading art writer of
his generation wrote with generosity and openness about the art world during these tempestuous
three years.
