Fearless and Provocative: Biographies of Art Critics and Advocates with Texas Connections
10:00 am - 10:45 am
Wednesday, October 27, 2021

The Fontaine Archive in Austin, Texas, houses the works and letters of painter Paul Fontaine and of Wisconsin-born Virginia Fontaine, a World War II–era denizen of the German art scene and a collaborator with the Jewish underground. Information scientist, former board chair of Austin literary nonprofit Austin Bat Cave, and Paul and Virginia’s daughter Claudia Fontaine Chidester collects in Trusted Eye: Post-World War II Adventures of a Fearless Art Advocate a treasure of photography and personal letters that together paint a richly detailed portrait of her mother Virginia’s life, both during the war and afterward.

With Dave Hickey and His Art, journalist Daniel Oppenheimer pens the first definitive biography of Fort Worth–born art critic Dave Hickey, once dubbed by the Guardian as “the enfant terrible of art criticism” for his candid, uncompromising takes on modern art and in particular the art establishment.

Join Chidester and Oppenheimer as they talk about two figures who decided to live their lives, and loudly, in artworld.


  • Moderator: Michael Hall, Texas Monthly executive editor
  • Format: This is a live, virtual event on CrowdCast (RSVP link above).
  • Chat: Feel free to use the chat box in CrowdCast to share your thoughts and virtually cheer for and share kudos with the session’s participants! Disorderly comments will be removed immediately. Please refer to the code of conduct.
  • Book(s): Click the book cover(s) below to purchase through BookPeople, Texas Book Festival’s partner bookseller. Your purchase helps support the author(s), independent bookselling, and the Texas Book Festival. Thank you.

Claudia Chidester, Daniel Oppenheimer, Trusted Eye: Post–World War II Adventures of a Fearless Art Advocate, Far From Respectable: Dave Hickey and His Art

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