Who Gets to Call It Art?
Palm Pictures | Release Date: February 1, 2006 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
70
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 10 Critic Reviews
Positive:
8
Mixed:
2
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Film ThreatPhil Hall
One of the greatest art documentaries ever made. Through an imaginative mixture of rare footage, audio recordings and contemporary interviews with the living legends of modern art, Rosen has created a cinematic portrait which is, in itself, a work of art. Read full review
90
VarietyRonnie Scheib
Lively, intelligent collage, both richly complex and immediately accessible. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
Shot with a Peter Greenaway-like austere impudence and edited brilliantly (by Jed Parker), this is an entertaining movie, and a moving one--even if, like me, you're not especially fond of these paintings or that scene. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubNoel Murray
Comes closer than most to seeing the whole picture. Read full review
75
New York PostV.A. Musetto
Paints an entertaining picture of the cherubic gentleman, who as the first curator of contemporary art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art brought new excitement to the stodgy institution. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderFred Camper
Fun, lively, and a tad superficial. Read full review
63
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
The film's appeal is for the eyes. Because Henry got to call it art, it's on display once again. Read full review
63
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
The film's flippant style ultimately undermines its material - Rosen's decision not to immediately identify interviewees is especially irritating - and, ironically, makes the American art scene of the '60s appear as shallow and trendy as its detractors always claimed it was. Read full review
60
Village VoiceEd Halter
A TV-style compilation of big-name talking heads and occasionally fascinating footage, the film convokes an impressive cast of interviewees—David Hockney, Frank Stella, and Ellsworth Kelly among them--yet seems too dazzled by their luminance to squeeze a substantial analysis of Geldzahler from their pithy testimonials. Read full review
40
The New York TimesManohla Dargis
This glib, largely uninformative and poorly organized précis of the post-World War II art scene, with its emphasis on New York in the 1960's and the curator Henry Geldzahler, succeeds neither as history nor as art history. Read full review
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