Jed Perl, the art critic for The New Republic, has been called by poet John Ashbery “an almost solitary, essential voice.” Also a reviewer in the Atlantic, writing about Magicians and Charlatans–Perl’s new collection of essays, most of which first appeared in The New Republic–observed that he “may be the finest American critic at work today in any field.” Before coming to The New Republic, Perl was a Contributing Editor to Vogue for ten years, and he has also written for The New York Review of Books, The New York Times Book Review, Harper’s, The New Criterion, The Threepenny Review, The Yale Review, Salmagundi, and many other publications. Among Jed Perl’s many books are Antoine’s Alphabet: Watteau and His World, Eyewitness: Reports from an Art World in Crisis, and New Art City: Manhattan at Mid-Century, which was a 2005 New York Times Notable Book. Perl is currently working on the first full-length biography of the sculptor Alexander Calder, to be published by Knopf. He is the recipient of awards from the Guggenheim Foundation, the American Academy in Rome, the Leon Levy Biography Center at the City University of New York, and the Ingram-Merrill Foundation. He has appeared on Charlie Rose, the McNeil Lehrer News Hour, CNN, as well as National Public Radio; and he is a Visiting Professor of Liberal Studies at The New School in New York City, where he lives.