Jerry Saltz Wins National Magazine Award for Commentary

Jerry Saltz

Last night marked the 2015 National Magazine Award dinner, known as the industry’s biggest event. The awards, commonly referred to as the Ellies, are given out annually by the American Society of Magazine Editors in association with Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism.

Jerry Saltz, writing for New York magazine, took home the Columns & Commentary award for three essays: “Zombies on the Walls: Why Does So Much New Abstraction Look the Same?,” in which he discusses why “artists making diluted art have the upper hand”; “Taking in Jeff Koons, Creator and Destroyer of Worlds,” a review of the most talked-about show of the year, in which, comparing Warhol and Koons, he writes that “Koons is cheery, centerless, more of a bland Mitt Romney Teletubby than a mysterious force of nature”; and “Post-Macho God: Matisse’s Cut-Outs Are World-Historically Gorgeous” (also appearing as “Do Not Miss MoMA’s Overwhelming Henri Matisse Exhibition”), a review of perhaps the second most talked-about show of the year, which he claims is like watching “a mighty tree falling in art’s forest.”

Who else took home an Ellie? Vogue landed Magazine of the Year, while the New Yorker, Glamour, Garden & Gun, Men’s Health, the Hollywood Reporter, and Nautilus won General Excellence awards. The New Yorker and New York tied for the night’s biggest haul, with three prizes apiece.


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