PAINTING IN NEW YORK TODAY

Featuring: Ross Bleckner; Charles Clough; Grégoire Müller; Julian Schnabel; Valentin Tatransky; Jeff Way



March/April 2009 blogpost by Piri Halasz:

"Valentin Tatransky: First, the bad news. It saddens me to report the death of Valentin Tatransky on February 23, 2009, of a massive gastrointestinal hemorrhage, at his home in Amherst, a suburb of Buffalo. He was 56. Tatransky was for me—as for many others—more than just an insightful art critic, more than just an entertaining party animal, more even than a sometime painter himself: he was a friend. Every critic needs a fellow critic for support, so I sent him a copy of every issue of this column (with cover letter telling him everything too private to publish in the column). Almost invariably, I got a warm, supportive letter back, even when he was feeling terrible (as alas, all too frequently happened in his later years). Since he lived so far from New York City, I didn’t see how he could be as au courant as he was, but time and again, he’d comment on younger and lesser-known artists I dealt with in the color supplements to my DeLuxe print edition. He’d known them all, and as a member of their generation, was closer to most than I could ever be. All this is only hinted at in the HW Wilson database that documents his publications in periodicals. It lists 70 reviews and articles starting in April 1978 and continuing on through October 1985. This seems to be the last issue before Alvin Demick, publisher of Arts, died, and his successors lost interest in Clement Greenberg or anybody associated with him. (Tatransky’s other principal outlet, Art International, had ceased publication under the leadership of James Fitzsimmons, another open-minded editor, the year before.) But Tatransky didn’t write exclusively about Greenbergian artists. His interests ranged from Malcolm Morley and Terence La Noue to Richard Hamilton and even further afield. He wrote about the greats of the elder generation, from Noland and Olitski to Poons and Frankenthaler, but among readers of this column, will be especially remembered for writing on his contemporaries and near contemporaries: James Walsh, Paula DeLuccia, Francine Tint, Susan Roth, Roy Lerner, Michael Steiner, Jill Nathanson and others. Tatransky’s mother died nearly two years ago; his father, at 87, is in assisted living. The critic’s estate has been left to three first cousins on his mother’s side: Natalie Korytnyk, Christine Korytnyk Dulaney, and Peter Korytnyk. They are caring for his possessions, artwork, etc., and Natalie has graciously…supplied me with Tatransky’s CV, which fills many lacunae in my knowledge of him. He took his BA from the Pratt Institute in 1975 (with a specialty in sculpture), and his MA from Hunter College in 1980 (with a specialty in contemporary art). Under 'publications' are listed ten books and exhibition catalogues, with monographic writing on Irene Neal and Cora Kelley and contributions to anthologies edited by Peter Frank and Richard Milazzo. 'Teaching experience' includes surveys in the 80s at Hunter and Staten Island College, plus lecturing in English during 1998–99 at a university in Slovakia, but it is under the category of 'guest lecturer' that Tatransky really shines, for here are listed not only lectures but also participation in workshops from Triangle and Emma Lake to Hardingham and Allentown. This is where he came to a more intimate understanding of the art and artists he loved best, and shows how much more he accomplished in his relatively brief life than many other men who lived longer" (Piri Halasz, http://www.pirihalasz.com, March/April 2009).

Some publications related to this event:
September, 1979 - 1979