Preface  

Introduction  

Part 1: She Said, She Said: Feminist Debates, 19712009  

The ism that dare not speak its name  

Anonymity as a Political Tactic: Art Blogs, Feminism, Writing, and Politics  

Generation 2.5  

Email to a Young Woman Artist  

The Womanhouse Films  

Miss Elizabeth Bennett Goes to Feminist Boot Camp  

Part 2: Painting  

Some Notes on Women and Abstraction and a Curious Case History: Alice Neel as a Great Abstract Painter  

Like a Veneer  

Modest Painting  

Blurring Richter  

Off the Grid: Weather Conditions in Lower Manhattan, September 11, 2001 to October 2, 2001  

Part 3: Trite Tropes  

Trite Tropes, Clich� or the Persistence of Styles  

Recipe Art  

Work and Play  

New Tales of Scheherazade  

Appendix: Work document: Grey  

Notes  

Bibliography  

Index  

“Schor is both an artist and a writer, maybe the perfect person to consider in this search for uncorrupt, valuable criticism. In her excellent book A Decade of Negative Thinking, she describes anonymous online commenting as the worst possible type of criticism, because it almost always falls into what she calls the ‘sucks/bullshit’ mode. (Ah, yup.) If you're looking for the opposite of that, pick up the book.”—Jen Graves, The Stranger

“By refusing any refuge in safe subject matter, Schor doesn’t only do relevant cultural criticism, but asks the necessary question: who else but artists are brave enough to do this work?”—Reva Blau, Provincetown Banner

“A Decade of Negative Thinking is significantly more than a personal account of feminist art. . . . A Decade of Negative Thinking presents a myriad of ideas of which could stand alone in their own publications. Presented together they bring into focus this sensitive analytical writer who has enriched many minds. Mira Schor’s writing is insightful and important.”—Ben Schachter, Consciousness, Literature, and the Arts

“Authoritatively focusing on such disconnects rampant in the artworld—from ‘post or anti-feminists’ whose mega success has directly benefitted from its feminist antecedents, to preposterous claims in the art press about highly collected painters—Schor, writes as if criticism is a near political right. She is less bothered with the overall relevancy of criticism in a world of semi-literates and anti-intellectualism and more concerned with the essential role of criticism to confront and rectify the distortions in our sight and thinking instigated by the unquestioned logic and supremacy of the art market. . . . [L]ively and incisive. . . .”—Constance Mallinson, The Times Quotidian

“[Schor’s] vigorous skepticism makes these essays indispensable reading to any artist, writer, curator, art historian, or feminist who has ever felt dismayed by the continued patriarchy, corporate mentality, and formulaic artwork that can characterize the art world. . . . If this is ‘negative thinking’—and if Schor’s way of thinking is ‘negative’—maybe we all need to learn to think a little less positively.”—Abbe Schriber, The Brooklyn Rail

“The essays collected in A Decade of Negative Thinking present lucid, highly engaged and engaging reflections on the politics, rhetoric and political economy of artistic practice.”—Matt Davies, Visual Studies

“[W]itty and lucid, showing that she’s a believer in art’s power, despite all the naysaying.”—David O’Neill, Bookforum

“Schor stakes out her own distinctive critical territory at the intersections of imagination and practice, concept and craft, anger and hope, humor and gravity. . . . It’s refreshing to accompany Schor as she look sat and opines on the state of culture. As she concludes in the book’s final essay, two qualities an artist can use to escape the trap of recipe art are ‘necessity , and having something to say with an investment in the formal means you use to say it.’ Schor has both.”—Kathleen Rooney, Bitch

“[A]n excellent new book. . . .”—Holland Cotter, New York Times

“Schor is both an artist and a writer, maybe the perfect person to consider in this search for uncorrupt, valuable criticism. In her excellent book A Decade of Negative Thinking, she describes anonymous online commenting as the worst possible type of criticism, because it almost always falls into what she calls the ‘sucks/bullshit’ mode. (Ah, yup.) If you're looking for the opposite of that, pick up the book.”—Jen Graves, The Stranger

“By refusing any refuge in safe subject matter, Schor doesn’t only do relevant cultural criticism, but asks the necessary question: who else but artists are brave enough to do this work?”—Reva Blau, Provincetown Banner

“A Decade of Negative Thinking is significantly more than a personal account of feminist art. . . . A Decade of Negative Thinking presents a myriad of ideas of which could stand alone in their own publications. Presented together they bring into focus this sensitive analytical writer who has enriched many minds. Mira Schor’s writing is insightful and important.”—Ben Schachter, Consciousness, Literature, and the Arts

“Authoritatively focusing on such disconnects rampant in the artworld—from ‘post or anti-feminists’ whose mega success has directly benefitted from its feminist antecedents, to preposterous claims in the art press about highly collected painters—Schor, writes as if criticism is a near political right. She is less bothered with the overall relevancy of criticism in a world of semi-literates and anti-intellectualism and more concerned with the essential role of criticism to confront and rectify the distortions in our sight and thinking instigated by the unquestioned logic and supremacy of the art market. . . . [L]ively and incisive. . . .”—Constance Mallinson, The Times Quotidian

“[Schor’s] vigorous skepticism makes these essays indispensable reading to any artist, writer, curator, art historian, or feminist who has ever felt dismayed by the continued patriarchy, corporate mentality, and formulaic artwork that can characterize the art world. . . . If this is ‘negative thinking’—and if Schor’s way of thinking is ‘negative’—maybe we all need to learn to think a little less positively.”—Abbe Schriber, The Brooklyn Rail

“The essays collected in A Decade of Negative Thinking present lucid, highly engaged and engaging reflections on the politics, rhetoric and political economy of artistic practice.”—Matt Davies, Visual Studies

“[W]itty and lucid, showing that she’s a believer in art’s power, despite all the naysaying.”—David O’Neill, Bookforum

“Schor stakes out her own distinctive critical territory at the intersections of imagination and practice, concept and craft, anger and hope, humor and gravity. . . . It’s refreshing to accompany Schor as she look sat and opines on the state of culture. As she concludes in the book’s final essay, two qualities an artist can use to escape the trap of recipe art are ‘necessity , and having something to say with an investment in the formal means you use to say it.’ Schor has both.”—Kathleen Rooney, Bitch

“[A]n excellent new book. . . .”—Holland Cotter, New York Times

“This collection of essays by one of the most engaging writers of contemporary art critically excavates and redefines the enduring questions in aesthetics and politics with extraordinary verve and urgency.”—Gunalan Nadarajan, Vice Provost for Research, Maryland Institute College of Art

“Mira Schor reminds us that some of the best, and most eye-opening, writing on art has always been made by artists themselves. The essays in A Decade of Negative Thinking demolish countless widely held assumptions about contemporary art, and do so with a compelling blend of skepticism and passion.”—Raphael Rubinstein, author of Polychrome Profusion: Selected Art Criticism, 1990–2002

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