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# Christopher Knight: The Critic Whose Love for LA Uplifted Its Arts Community
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/christopher-knight-the-critic-whose-love-for-la-uplifted-its-arts-community/
- Published: 2020-06-19T15:52:12.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-26T20:07:13.000Z
- Description: The veteran art critic has played a formidable role in helping to shape the world’s perception of contemporary art in Los Angeles.
- Author: Hrag Vartanian
- Tags: Podcast, Art Criticism, Christopher Knight, Los Angeles Times, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 07:41 (2019, 2020, part 2)

In his current position as art critic at the *Los Angeles Times*, Christopher Knight has been speaking truth to power for almost four decades. He charted the contemporary art waters in a city that has since become one of the world’s art hubs before most people ever noticed. He doesn’t shy away from controversy, as his recent [columns about the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s renovations](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-et-cm-lacma-shrinking-20190402-story.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) suggest. This year he was awarded two special honors: the [Rabkin Lifetime Achievement Award for Art Journalism](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2020-02-17/los-angeles-times-art-critic-christopher-knight-wins-rabkin-lifetime-achievement-award?ref=hyperallergic.com#:~:text=Times%20art%20critic%20Christopher%20Knight%20has%20won%20the%20Dorothea%20and,comes%20with%20a%20%2450%2C000%20prize.&text=In%201997%2C%20he%20was%20the,from%20the%20College%20Art%20Assn.) and the [Pulitzer Prize for Criticism](https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/christopher-knight-los-angeles-times?ref=hyperallergic.com).

In this episode, he shares stories about his years in LA, his work as a newspaper art critic, and even a very curious letter he received from actor Charleton Heston about artist Andrew Wyeth.

The music featured in this episode is the track “[Zuma](https://open.spotify.com/album/35vIVKvQtEV96gQAnhriyE?ref=hyperallergic.com)” by [Austin David](https://www.austindavidmusic.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com).

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