David Bourdon
David Bourdon (October 15, 1934 – March 27, 1998) was an American art critic and writer. Bourdon was a pioneering writer on the Minimalist movement and was deeply active in the avant-garde Manhattan art scene of the early 1960s. He also wrote about the Earth Art movement in the late 1960s and 1970s. Bourdon was a journalist for numerous magazines such as Life, Artforum International, Art in America, Arts Magazine, Time, and Vogue. He wrote books about artists like Christo, Alexander Calder, Niki de Saint-Phalle, and Andy Warhol. He was the former president of the United States section of the International Association of Art Critics.
Biography
Bourdon was born in Los Angeles, California, on October 15, 1934.{{Cite book |last=Battcock |first=Gregory |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Minimal_Art/lhMS8Ii73ZkC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=david+bourdon+1934+california&pg=PA103&printsec=frontcover |title=Minimal Art: A Critical Anthology |date=1995-08-03 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-20147-7 |pages=103 |language=en}}
He received a Bachelor of Science degree from Columbia University in 1961. Following graduation, he began working as a journalist and art critic, contributing to magazines like Time, Artforum International, Art in America, and Arts Magazine. Specifically, he served as an editor at Life from 1966 to 1971, associate editor at Saturday Review from 1972 to 1974, senior editor at Geo from 1981 to 1983, and senior features editor at Vogue from 1983 to 1986. He was also The Village Voice
Bourdon's books included analyses of Christo (1972), Alexander Calder (1980), and Andy Warhol (1989). According to his book on Warhol, which was a thorough insider's account of Warhol's career, Bourdon helped Warhol create a number of his 1963 Elvis Presley silkscreen prints. He was a friend of Andy Warhol and appeared in his experimental film Batman Dracula (1964). Warhol's film Blue Movie (1969) was filmed in Bourdon's Greenwich Village apartment.{{Cite news |last=Lowry |first=Patricia |date=1989-12-17 |title=Art Offerings: Warhol's life, architecture authors' focus |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-pittsburgh-press-andy-warhol-biograp/170990402/ |access-date=2025-04-29 |work=The Pittsburgh Press |pages=J6}}
His last book, Designing the Earth (1995), explored how humans have shaped their surroundings using stone and earth. He had gotten active with groups like the World Wildlife Fund and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals in his later years.
Bourdon died at age 63 from esophageal cancer at Simi Valley Hospital in Simi Valley, California, on March 27, 1998.{{Cite news |last=Cotter |first=Holland |date=1998-04-03 |title=David Bourdon, 63, Art Critic With Expertise in Modern Genres |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/04/03/arts/david-bourdon-63-art-critic-with-expertise-in-modern-genres.html |access-date=2025-04-29 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} He was survived by his parents, David and Marilyn Bourdon; a brother, Gary Bourdon, and two sisters, Beverley Post and Diane Bourdon. A memorial service was held at St. Francis Xavier Church in Manhattan on April 30, 1998.
Legacy
Bourdon's friend, the artist Les Levine, was the executor of his estate. Levine donated the David Bourdon papers to the Smithsonian Institution and the Museum of Modern Art.{{Cite web |title=A Finding Aid to the David Bourdon papers, 1941-1998 {{!}} Archives of American Art |url=https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/david-bourdon-papers-6210 |access-date=2025-05-03 |website=Smithsonian Institution |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=David Bourdon Correspondence in The Museum of Modern Art Archives Bourdon |url=https://www.moma.org/research/archives/finding-aids/Bourdonf |access-date=2025-05-03 |website=www.moma.org}}
Painter Sylvia Sleigh's 1969 portrait of Bourdon was gifted to the Museum of Modern Art from her estate.{{Cite web |title=Sylvia Sleigh. David Bourdon. 1969 {{!}} MoMA |url=https://www.moma.org/collection/works/221730 |access-date=2025-05-03 |website=The Museum of Modern Art |language=en}}