During the last 4 a long time, few figures have influenced up to date artwork criticism within the US greater than Jerry Saltz and Roberta Smith. In her documentary Home of Criticism (2026), which had its world premiere final week on the Tribeca Movie Pageant, the film-maker Alison Chernick shifts the main target away from the bylines and public personas to the non-public lives behind them.
The movie follows the married critics (he for New York journal, she, till just lately, for The New York Occasions) by their each day routines, providing an intimate portrait of two individuals whose relationship has been constructed round artwork, forming opinions and turning these observations into writing. In doing so, it additionally turns into a portrait of a career that has grown more and more scarce inside up to date journalism.
For many individuals within the artwork world, Saltz and Smith’s marriage has lengthy been a supply of fascination. Home of Criticism gives a uncommon glimpse into what occurs when two individuals who have devoted their lives to the sometimes solitary pursuit of criticism go dwelling collectively on the finish of the day.
In an early scene, Saltz and Smith are seen consuming collectively at a diner and reminiscing about their careers’ early days. Smith remembers serving to Saltz along with his writing, whereas Saltz jokes about regularly asking her for opening sentences. In one of many documentary’s many dryly humorous strains, Smith remarks: “I assumed I wrote higher for you than I did for myself.” The trade captures the movie’s tone, which balances affection, humour and curiosity about how two individuals constructed parallel careers in artwork criticism. Chernick manages to convey the distinction in her topics’ writing kinds: Smith’s precision, persistence and deep attentiveness to things, versus Saltz’s extra expansive and emotional strategy pushed by private connection.
A lot of the documentary is shot within the couple’s Manhattan house, following them to galleries, exhibition openings and outings with associates. Chernick can also be within the smaller particulars that make up their lives, from Saltz’s well-known Huge Gulp cups, which Smith can sometimes be noticed ingesting from as properly, to the replicas of artwork gifted to him by admirers and social media followers. In one other memorable sequence, Saltz reveals work he made as an artwork scholar and remembers Smith telling him that he was meant to be a author slightly than an artist.
Roberta Smith and Jerry Saltz in a scene from Home of Criticism (2026), directed by Alison Chernick Courtesy Tribeca Movie Pageant
The documentary traces the formative experiences that formed each critics and sheds gentle on the individuals they might turn out to be. Smith remembers rising up in Kansas in a family the place her mom, who had a very sturdy sense of aesthetics, regularly requested for her opinion on every part from family objects to issues of style. The anecdote turns into one of many movie’s most revealing insights into Smith’s growth as a critic. That confidence would later lead her to the Whitney Impartial Research Program, the place she labored carefully with Donald Judd, serving to form her essential sensibility.
Saltz’s path to criticism was way more chaotic. In one of many movie’s most affecting sequences, he remembers a childhood go to to the Artwork Institute of Chicago, when his mom dropped him off on the museum to spend the afternoon artwork. She died two weeks later. He solely discovered years later that she had died by suicide. Saltz says his mom’s dying was hardly ever mentioned throughout the household, there was no funeral and his father remarried a 12 months later. The reminiscence reveals a weak facet of a critic recognized for his outsized character, sharp opinions and near-constant presence on social media.
One of many movie’s most revealing moments comes when Smith discusses her retirement from The New York Occasions in 2024. Slightly than seek the advice of Saltz beforehand, she despatched the e-mail to her editor first and knowledgeable him afterward. Smith notes that had she advised Saltz beforehand, he possible would have needed to dictate the e-mail himself. The trade is humorous and quintessentially them, revealing how properly they know each other whereas working to protect their independence. Smith’s retirement hangs quietly over a lot of the documentary, and Chernick is finally most interested by what comes subsequent for her personally.
One matter conspicuously absent from the movie, nevertheless, is a deeper dialogue of the place artwork criticism is headed and the way Saltz and Smith view its future. At one level, Saltz acknowledges that he and Smith have occupied two of the final remaining full-time artwork critic positions within the US. The remark is placing, notably as a result of the documentary usually feels as very similar to a portrait of a fading mannequin of criticism because it does a portrait of the critics themselves.
Maybe that dialog was past the scope of the movie, nevertheless it is likely one of the most compelling questions it raises. Home of Criticism succeeds as an intimate portrait of two writers, however it is usually an inadvertent portrait of a career in decline. If Saltz and Smith symbolize the final nice technology of full-time artwork critics, who will inherit their roles when they’re gone and what is going to criticism appear like going ahead?
Home of Criticism, 12-14 June, Tribeca Movie Pageant, New York
