RARE “Art Critic\" Royal Cortissoz Hand Written Note on Letterhead Dated 1941 for Sale

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RARE “Art Critic\" Royal Cortissoz Hand Written Note on Letterhead Dated 1941 For Sale

$RARE “Art Critic\$
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RARE “Art Critic\" Royal Cortissoz Hand Written Note on Letterhead Dated 1941:
$349.99

Up for sale a VERY RARE! "Art Critic" Royal Cortissoz Hand Written Note on Letterhead Dated 1941.

ES-1404

Royal Cortissoz (February

10, 1869 – October 17, 1948, last name pronounced kor-TEE-zus) was an American art historian and long-time art critic for the New York Herald Tribune from

1891 until his death. During his tenure, he consistently championed

traditionalism and decried modernism. Of the latter, he once wrote,

"It will someday prove a kind of Victorian 'dud,' with a difference, obviously, but a

'dud' just the same." In addition to his work as a

critic, he penned the inscription above the statue of Abraham Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial: "In this temple, as in the hearts of

the people for whom he saved the Union, the memory of Abraham Lincoln is

enshrined forever." Cortissoz

was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Francisco Emmanuel Cortissoz, Julia da Costa Mauri, from Martinique. He trained as an architect, spending six years working at the firm of McKim, Mead, and White,

starting at the age of 16, before joining the staff of the Commercial Advertiser.

In 1891, he joined the staff of the New York Tribune, writing on culture, and eventually

became the art editor. He had been interested in art as a young child, but

never formally studied or practiced it, instead having skill with words, thus

leading to career as an art critic, in his own words, "by the hectic life of a journalist and the pressure of

trying to establish the Tribune as a cultural leader led to

a mental breakdown, or neurasthenia as he was diagnosed. Although he soon

recovered after a trip around Cape Horn, he suffered for the remainder of his life.

a critic, Cortissoz saw his role to be one who fosters an appreciation of art

in the common man, and not just paintings. He wrote extensively about jewelry, rare book designs, architecture, furniture, and interior design. He considered art as a whole to be central to

society's well-being. He also frequently remarked that beauty could be found

anywhere. Cortissoz was so influential that

his praise was eagerly sought by artists, and the organizers of the landmark

1913 Armory Show were

worried about what he might think.

Cortissoz

argued against modernism on both technical and cultural grounds. He found abstract art to be ugly and rejected modernism's idea

that the work did not have to represent reality. In 1923, he drew a comparison

between the surge of prominent European modernists arriving on American shores

with the hot button issue of immigration, coining the derisive term "Ellis Island art" in an attempt to denigrate the

newcomers' rising status in the art world. (The term did not catch on.) He also detested modernists'

tendency to be dismissive of the past and of those who disliked their work.

This attitude, Cortissoz felt, would cause people to associate art with the

irrational and bizarre and thus lose interest. Over the years, Cortissoz

criticized in this manner Cubism, German Expressionism, Dada, Surrealism, and abstract expressionism. He

felt artists attached to these movements, such as Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Vincent van Gogh, and Piet Mondrian were egotists. In 1927, he wrote, "Sooner or later these silly

egotists will go to the scrap heap. But in the meantime they are ruining the

younger generation." He did, however, have praise for American modernists who

used traditional techniques, such as Arthur B. Davies, Guy Pène du Bois,

and Georgia O'Keeffe.