One Size Fits All

Tyler Green discusses specialization vis-à-vis Slate's decision to give Lee Siegel yet another hat (improbably, Lee Siegel is The New Republic's television critic, The Nation's book critic, and now Slate's art critic). I don't think Slate is showing inexcusable judgment, given the medium that it is. They publish cocktail party–criticism. A generalist can write this well because he doesn't mind (or perhaps exceeds in) identifying trends, glossing the right details, and ignoring the nagging Jiminy Cricket–impulse critics feel to know the literature and know it thoroughly.

Be wary of the generalist who dismisses any concern about overstretch. "Everything’s the same," says Siegel, "I can write about anything," which makes Siegel sound like a cockatiel proud of his plume. (To be fair, it's far from the best interview that's ever been written.) So I wouldn't go to Siegel for anything instructional about the art world. Then again, I wouldn't go to Slate for that in the first place.