Waldemar Januszczak (born 12 January 1954) is an English art critic and television
documentary producer and presenter. Formerly the art critic of ''
The Guardian'', he took the same role at ''
The Sunday Times'' in 1992, and has twice won the Critic of the Year award.
Life
Januszczak was born in
Basingstoke
Basingstoke ( ) is the largest town in the county of Hampshire. It is situated in south-central England and lies across a valley at the source of the River Loddon, at the far western edge of The North Downs. It is located north-east of Southa ...
,
Hampshire, to
Polish refugees who had arrived in England after the
Second World War.
In Poland his father had been a policeman in
Sanok, a job which included exposing Communists. In the UK he worked as a railway carriage cleaner, but died, aged 57, when a train ran over him at
Basingstoke railway station. His widow, then aged 33, found work as a dairymaid. Waldemar was one year old at the time.
["Waldemar Januszczak: Searching for the Father I Never Knew", ''The Sunday Times'', 15 January 2006.](_blank)
Retrieved 29 March 2006
The young Januszczak attended
Divine Mercy College, a school for the children of Polish refugees which the
Congregation of Marian Fathers
The Congregation of Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary ( la, Congregatio Clericorum Marianorum ab Immaculata Conceptionis Beatissimae Virginis Mariae) is a Catholic male clerical religious congregation fo ...
had set up at
Fawley Court,
Henley-on-Thames. According to Januszczak in "Holbein: Eye of the Tudors", he attended St Anne's (Roman Catholic) Primary School in
Caversham, Berkshire
Caversham is a suburb of Reading, England. Originally a village founded in the Middle Ages, it lies on the north bank of the River Thames, opposite the rest of Reading. Caversham Bridge, Reading Bridge, Christchurch Bridge, and Caversham Lock ...
, from ages 5 to 11.
Career
After studying
history of art at the
University of Manchester, Januszczak became an art critic, and then arts editor, of ''
The Guardian''. In 1990 he was appointed head of arts at
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service in ...
television and in 1992 he became art critic for ''
The Sunday Times''. He has been voted ''Critic of the Year'' twice by the
Press Association
PA Media (formerly the Press Association) is a multimedia news agency, and the national news agency of the United Kingdom and Ireland. It is part of PA Media Group Limited, a private company with 26 shareholders, most of whom are national and r ...
.
Januszczak has been described as "a passionate art lover, art critic and writer. His presentation style is casual but informed, enthusiastic, evocative and humorous. He bumbles about on our TV screens, doing for art what
David Attenborough
Sir David Frederick Attenborough (; born 8 May 1926) is an English broadcaster, biologist, natural historian and author. He is best known for writing and presenting, in conjunction with the BBC Natural History Unit, the nine natural histor ...
has done for the natural world," and someone who acts out of "a refusal to present art as elitist in any way. He makes it utterly accessible and understandable."
["The Art of Jane Tomlinson"]
Retrieved 29 March 2006
In 1997, he took part in a
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service in ...
discussion called ''The Death of Painting'', occasioned by the absence of painters from that year's
Turner Prize. The programme was made famous when an apparently drunk
Tracey Emin swore at the other participants and left after ten minutes.
["Tracey Emin – Artist", h2g2, BBC]
Retrieved 29 March 2006 In 2002, when insurance broker and art collector
Ivan Massow
Ivan Julian Massow (born 11 September 1967) is a British financial services entrepreneur, gay rights campaigner, and media personality. He is also a former Chairman of the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London. He has been active in UK poli ...
lashed out at
conceptual art
Conceptual art, also referred to as conceptualism, is art in which the concept(s) or idea(s) involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic, technical, and material concerns. Some works of conceptual art, sometimes called instal ...
in general and said that Emin could not "think her way out of a paper bag", Januszczak observed in a letter to ''
The Independent'' that "thinking" would not be very helpful in those circumstances.
[Letter: Concepts of Art, ''The Independent'', 21 January 2002.]
Retrieved 29 March 2006
In 2004 he differed from most critics in his defence of the art of
Stella Vine
Stella Vine (born Melissa Jane Robson, 1969) is an English artist, who lives and works in London. Her work is figurative painting, with subjects drawn from personal life, as well as from rock stars, royalty, and other celebrities.
In 2001, she ...
, singling her out for praise in his otherwise hostile review of the
Saatchi Gallery's ''New Blood'' show ("although I didn't much want to like Vine's contribution, I found I did. It had something"), and continuing to champion her, seeing "a combination of empathy and cynicism that can be startling."
["The Picture of Health?", ''The Sunday Times'', 27 November 2005.]
Retrieved 29 March 2006 Later that year he took part in a Christmas special critics edition of the television quiz show ''
University Challenge''.
Reviewing the exhibition ''Americans in Paris'' at London's
National Gallery in 2006, he described
James McNeill Whistler's ''Symphony in White No 1'' as "a clumsy bit of cake-making with thick smudges of white rubbed into the canvas in coarse, dry skid marks". "Even Whistler's renowned mother manages here to underwhelm", he complained.
Hoaxed by artist
Jamie Shovlin, Januszczak later that year 'revealed' in his paper how the 1970s
glam rock band
Lustfaust had "cocked a notorious snook at the music industry in the late 1970s by giving away their music on blank cassettes and getting their fans to design their own covers". The band had never existed outside Shovlin's fiction. Januszczak replied that Shovlin should be applauded for his capacity to remind us of the crucial place of the artist in today's society as he made clear that "Reality simply cannot be trusted any more".
In October 2008, Januszczak co-curated a show at the
British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It documen ...
called ''Statuephilia'', in which modern sculptures by 6 artists were shown next to their more ancient counterparts. The show was inspired during his creation of the series ''The Sculpture Diaries'', a three-part series on sculpture around the world, which was first aired on 31 August 2008 on Channel 4.
Waldemar Januszczak has made many appearances on television, on which medium he has presented programmes on the history of art. He has also made appearances on programmes such as ''
The Culture Show'' and ''
Newsnight Review
''The Review Show'' was a British discussion programme dedicated to the arts which ran, under several titles, from 1994 to 2014. The programme featured a panel of guests who reviewed developments in the world of the arts and culture.
History
'' ...
''. Beginning on 27 November 2012, he presented a four-part series ''
The Dark Ages: An Age of Light'' about the art and architecture of the
Dark Ages on
BBC Four
BBC Four is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002 .
In October 2019 he directed and narrated ''Handmade in Bolton'' on BBC Four, a short documentary series featuring
Shaun Greenhalgh and fronted by
Janina Ramirez.
He currently produces content for the art channel Perspective, part of the Little Dot Studios Network (
All3Media
All3Media Limited is a British worldwide independent television, film and digital production and distribution company based in London, England. The All3Media group comprises more than 40 production and distribution companies from across the U ...
).
Films
Januszczak has been making films since 1997 with his production company ZCZ Films.
* ''The Truth About Art'' (Channel 4, 1998) a three-episode series about why some subjects have such a hold on the human imagination.
* ''The Lost Supper'' (Channel 4, 1999) about the restoration of
The Last Supper.
* ''The Cowboy and the Eclipse'' (Channel 4, 1999) about
James Turrell
James Turrell (born May 6, 1943) is an American artist known for his work within the Light and Space movement. Much of Turrell's career has been devoted to a still-unfinished work, ''Roden Crater'', a natural cinder cone crater located outside ...
's earthwork sculpture in Cornwall.
* ''Mad Tracey from Margate'' (BBC, 1999) about
Tracey Emin.
* ''Puppy Love'' (Channel 4, 2000) about Januszczak's modest dislike of dogs and intense hatred of dog aficionados.
* ''Travels in Virtual Japan'' (Channel 4, 2000) about Japanese technological innovation.
* ''Building of the Year'' (Channel 4, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003). Coverage of the annual
Stirling Prize for new architecture.
* ''
Picasso: Magic, Sex, Death'' (Channel 4, 2001) with the artist's friend and biographer,
John Richardson. (Three-episode series)
["Films by Waldemar Janusczak", Movie Mail]
Retrieved 28 March 2006
* ''Gauguin: The Full Story'' (BBC, 2003) about
Paul Gauguin.
* ''Beijing Swings'' (Channel 4, 2003) about extreme art in Beijing.
* ''Every Picture Tells A Story'' (Channel 5, 2003/2004) about the backgrounds of eight masterpieces. (Two 4-episode series)
* ''Vincent: The Full Story'' (Channel 4, 2004) about
Vincent van Gogh
Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2,100 artworks, inclu ...
. (Three-episode series)
* ''The
Michelangelo Code: Secrets of the
Sistine Chapel'' (Channel 4, 2005).
* ''Kazakhstan Swings'' (Channel 4, 2006) about contemporary art in
Kazakhstan.
* ''Toulouse-Lautrec: The Full Story'' (Channel 4, 2006) about
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.
* ''Sickert vs Sargent'' (BBC, 2007) about the war between two immigrants–
Walter Sickert and
John Singer Sargent
John Singer Sargent (; January 12, 1856 – April 14, 1925) was an American expatriate artist, considered the "leading portrait painter of his generation" for his evocations of Edwardian-era luxury. He created roughly 900 oil paintings and mor ...
–for the soul of British art.
* ''Paradise Found'' (Channel 4, 2007) about
Islamic architecture and
Islamic art.
* ''The Happy Dictator'' (Channel 4, 2007) about the former president of
Turkmenistan.
* ''Atlas: Japan Revealed'' (Discovery Channel, 2008). Series 3, Episode 2 in the
Discovery Atlas series. (Januszczak was executive producer only; not as an on-camera presenter or narrator.)
* ''The Sculpture Diaries'' (Channel 4, 2008) about sculptural depictions of women and leaders, as well as earthworks and land art. (Three-episode series)
* ''
Baroque! – From St Peter's to St Paul's'' (BBC, 2009). An overview of the
Baroque
The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including th ...
in many of its key locations. (Three-episode series)
* ''
Manet: the Man Who Invented Modern Art'' (BBC, 2009) about
Édouard Manet and his influence on art.
* '' Ugly Beauty'' (BBC, 2009) about contemporary art.
* ''
William Dobson The Lost Genius of British Art'' (BBC, 2011)
* '' Art of the Night'' (BBC, 2011)
* '' Impressionists Painting and Revolution'' (BBC, 2011) (Four-episode series)
* ''
The Dark Ages: An Age of Light'' (BBC, 2012) (Four-episode series)
* ''Rococo: Travel, Pleasure, Madness'' (BBC, 2014) (Three-episode series)
* ''Rubens: An Extra Large Story'' (BBC, 2015)
* ''Holbein: Eye of the Tudors'' (BBC, 2015)
* ''The Renaissance Unchained'' (BBC 4, 2016) (Four-episode series)
* ''Mary Magdalene: Art's Scarlet Woman'' (BBC, 2017)
* ''Big Sky Big Dreams Big Art: Made in the USA'' (BBC, 2018) (Three-episode series)
* ''Handmade in Bolton'' (BBC, 2019) (Four-episode series)
* ''The Art Mysteries'' (BBC, 2020) (Four-episode series)
Judgments
*''On the
Turner Prize (1984):''
:The British art establishment, having already shown unforgivable ignorance and wickedness in its dealings with Turner's own Bequest to the nation, is now bandying his name about in the hope of giving some spurious historical credibility to a new prize cynically concocted to promote the interest of a small group of dealers, gallery directors and critics.
[The Guardian, 6 November 1984]
Retrieved 4 August 2014 from the Frieze blogs pages
*''On the
Turner Prize (1985):''
:The Turner Prize, like the root of the Arts Council, the rise of business sponsorship with strings attached, the growing importance of the PR man in art, the mess at the V&A, and the emergence of the ignorant "art consultant" is the direct result of inadequate government support for the arts. Forced out into the business circus, art has had to start clowning around.
[The Guardian, 4 November 1985]
See also
*
Poles in the United Kingdom
British Poles, alternatively known as Polish British people or Polish Britons, are ethnic Poles who are citizens of the United Kingdom. The term includes people born in the UK who are of Polish descent and Polish-born people who reside in the ...
*
Józef Jarzębowski
References
External links
"Vincent, the Full Story" on Channel 4"The Dark Ages: An Age of Light" on BBC FourZCZ Filmswaldemar.tv
{{DEFAULTSORT:Januszczak, Waldemar
1954 births
English art critics
English male journalists
English people of Polish descent
The Guardian journalists
Living people
People from Basingstoke
The Sunday Times people