Cortissoz, Royal, 1869-1948

American art critic.

Royal Cortissoz (1869-1968), respected American art critic, was born in Brooklyn, NY. He trained as an architect, spending six years working at the firm of McKim, Mead, and White before embarking on his journalism career. Cortissoz served as the art critic for the New York Tribune (later, New York Herald-Tribune) from 1891-1944 and was the author of art books, exhibition catalogs, and countless articles and reviews.

Royal Cortissoz (1869-1948) was the art critic for the New York Herald Tribune for over fifty years.

Royal Cortissoz was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Francisco Emmanuel Cortissoz and Julia da Costo Cortissoz. In 1883 he went to work for the architectural firm of McKim, Mead & White. In 1889 he was appointed art critic for The Commercial Advertiser, and on October 1, 1891 he was named art critic for the New York Tribune (later the New York Herald-Tribune ), a position he held for more than fifty years. Cortissoz was a champion of traditional and representational art, and considered modernist art "sterile." He was the author of many critical articles, three biographies, and six volumes of essays, and became a nationally-known and highly popular lecturer on the arts, particularly painting. Cortissoz also wrote inscriptions for many memorials, the most famous of which appears behind the statue of Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial.

In 1897 he married Ellen Mackay Hutchinson, co-editor with Edmund Clarence Stedman of The Library of American Literature and an author herself. His fiftieth anniversary with the Herald-Tribune was celebrated by many colleagues and admirers. Royal Cortissoz died in New York City on October 17, 1948. At the time of his death, Henry McBride noted his dislike of modern art, but added: "These innovators could not have asked for a fairer opponent. They will miss him. He created the argument and when there is no argument a movement lies flat."