Calvin Tomkins, a renowned author and long-standing staff writer for The New Yorker, passed away at the age of 100 due to complications from a stroke, as confirmed by his wife, Dodie Kazanjian. Tomkins died on Friday at his home in Middletown, Rhode Island. His death came a few months after he celebrated his centenary, coinciding closely with the magazine that was pivotal to his career.
For over five decades, Tomkins chronicled the evolving art landscape, particularly during the transformative 1960s. His witty and in-depth profiles covered iconic figures such as Andy Warhol and Robert Rauschenberg, as well as various artistic movements including pop art, conceptual art, and minimalism. He witnessed a significant cultural shift as the art world transitioned from its insular roots to a domain that embraced celebrity culture and social status.
In his own words from his biography of Rauschenberg, titled Off the Wall, Tomkins reflected on the shift towards social engagement in the art scene, stating, "It was more advantageous (and a lot more fun) to be on board of the Museum of Modern Art or the New Whitney Museum... than it was to be on the boards of a dozen hospital or private schools." He described the excitement surrounding major exhibition openings, characterizing them as "supercharged displays of the latest in far-out dress and behavior patterns, media events covered by television and the paparazzi."
Born in Orange, New Jersey, and a graduate of Princeton University, Tomkins initially embarked on his career as a fiction writer. His novel, Intermission, published in 1951, explored themes of marriage and family. By the mid-1950s, Tomkins had begun contributing articles to The New Yorker while working as a journalist for Radio Free Europe and Newsweek. A pivotal assignment on Marcel Duchamp ignited his passion for writing about artists, despite his lack of formal art training.
Tomkins officially joined the staff of The New Yorker in 1960, with his first nonfiction feature story showcasing Kinetic art pioneer Jean Tinguely appearing two years later. He described Tinguely's art as "bizarre, down-at-heel, anti-functional machines" that often fail in unexpected ways, capturing his signature style of amusing yet insightful commentary.
Throughout his career, Tomkins profiled a wide array of influential figures, including chef Julia Child, artist Georgia O'Keeffe, and high-wire artist Philippe Petit. His articles formed the foundation for several books, including biographies of Duchamp and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as well as Living Well is the Best Revenge, which detailed the lives of expatriates Gerald and Sara Murphy during their time in 1920s France. His later work, Lives of the Artists published in 2008, featured contemporary artists like Richard Serra and Cindy Sherman, with a notable chapter dedicated to Jasper Johns, whom he managed to interview after a lengthy 40-year attempt.
Tomkins, characterized as tall, blue-eyed, and polished, cultivated a social circle of influential friends during his years living on Manhattan's Upper East Side. His extensive archives, donated to the Museum of Modern Art in 2002, include correspondence with notable figures such as Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Merce Cunningham, Romare Bearden, and Richard Avedon. In 2011, he was recognized as an honoree at the annual Whitney Gala at the Whitney Museum of American Art.
Throughout his life, Tomkins was married four times and had four children, one through his marriage with author Susan Cheever. His fourth wife, Dodie Kazanjian, is an accomplished author herself and contributes to Vogue. Their relationship began in 1987 during Warhol's funeral, marking a poignant connection between Tomkins and the art world he so astutely captured in his work.
