Old in Art School
A Library Journal Editor’s Pick for Spring
An O Magazine Pick of Best Books for Summer Reading
A Literary Hub Pick for June
A New York Times Pick of New and Noteworthy
A Women.com Pick of 22 Top Books for June
A Publishers Weekly Pick of the Week
A BookPage Top Pick of the Month
An Entertainment Weekly Pick of the Month
A Parade Magazine Pick of the Summer
A Time Magazine Pick of the Best Memoirs of 2018 (So Far)
Finalist for the 2018 National Book Critics Circle Award
A New York Times Book Review pick of the Best Books Now in Paperback
A BookRiot Pick of Underrated Memoirs by Black Women
Following her retirement from Princeton University, celebrated historian Dr. Nell Irvin Painter surprised everyone in her life by returning to school―in her sixties―to earn a BFA and MFA in painting. In Old in Art School, she travels from her beloved Newark to the prestigious Rhode Island School of Design; finds meaning in the artists she loves, even as she comes to understand how they may be undervalued; and struggles with the unstable balance between the pursuit of art and the inevitable, sometimes painful demands of a life fully lived.
How are women and artists seen and judged by their age, looks, and race? What does it mean when someone says, “You will never be an artist?” Who defines what “an artist” is and all that goes with such an identity, and how are these ideas tied to our shared conceptions of beauty, value, and difference?
Old in Art School is Nell Painter’s ongoing exploration of those crucial questions. Bringing to bear incisive insights from two careers, Painter weaves a frank, funny, and often surprising tale of her move from academia to art.
Praise