Christopher Knight was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for his arts criticism in the LA Times. He joins an exclusive list of other art critics that have won the award, including Jerry Saltz, Philip Kennicott and Holland Cotter. His work details creative projects taking place in Los Angeles, including the exhibits that appear at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Knight has published an anthology of his criticism. In addition, he has won Rabkin Prize Lifetime Achievement Award and the College Art Association’s Frank Jewett Mather Award.
This is a major accomplishment from the perspective of the arts and journalism, particularly due to the fact that very few art critics have a Pulitzer Prize. Contemporary and future critics can use Knight’s success as a paradigm that indicates that arts criticism still has a significant role in the world through traditional print and digital media.
What is particularly exciting is that someone from today’s publications, may be the next art critic to receive the honor as we continue to bring criticism to the forefront of digital media. It gives today’s writers inspiration and something to aspire to achieve throughout their careers.