Falling in Love with Jerry Saltz

The main goal of this article — and of the entire series Art People to Know Today — is not to provide a detailed biographical account of a particular art figure. Instead, it aims to highlight a person within the art world and to spark the reader’s curiosity to learn more about them.

Art is created by people and for people. People shape it, criticise it, love it, and hate it. There is no art without people. Getting to know the individuals who operate within the art world offers a unique and realistic understanding of how that world actually functions. It stops being elitist and opaque and becomes more approachable.

For this reason, Jerry Saltz is the perfect person to begin this series with. There are several reasons why — and I am fairly certain that by the end of this text, or perhaps somewhere in the middle of it, you will find yourself looking him up on Instagram or watching one of his talks on YouTube.

There are three main raisons to fall in love with Saltz: 1. his great writing 2. his biography 3. his personality

One of the reasons Jerry Saltz is so compelling is that he does not fit the traditional image of an art-world authority.

He is unconventional in almost every way. He dropped out of college, worked a series of non-art jobs — including as a truck driver — and only began writing seriously about art in his forties. In a field that often celebrates early success and elite education, Saltz is a late bloomer.

Despite this, or perhaps because of it, he went on to win the Pulitzer Prize for criticism. His trajectory alone challenges many assumptions about who is “allowed” to speak with authority about art.

What makes Saltz particularly distinctive, however, is not just his biography. He comes across as approachable, non-elitist, and deeply enthusiastic about art. His language is direct and punchy, often humorous, and intentionally free of academic obscurity. He does not perform distance or superiority — instead, he invites people in.

This combination of lived experience, openness, and sharp critical instinct is rare. It helps explain why so many people — even those who feel intimidated by contemporary art — find themselves drawn to him almost immediately.