historian on historian

blue on blue. or should that be red on  red.  not a killing but an appreciation. a deep one

simon schama on robert hughes.


Stirred to eloquent fury by contemporary art’s entrapment by the public relations industry, Hughes was happiest when off by himself, considering the power of a master.

 Modernism may have been a heady project, but it could never escape the paradoxical longing to become museum classics.

He was one of the last romantics of tough toil: both its celebrant and its exemplar, and he despised cheap facility and outsourced execution as a betrayal of the principles of the craft.

We hope that he knew how he’d changed the game, opened eyes, sharpened perceptions—how he ensured we never confuse value with auction price, 

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/08/10/robert-hughes-a-fierce-critic-and-powerful-voice-now-silenced.html