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Whoever said “nobody likes a critic” never met Mary Louise Schumacher. The Milwaukee filmmaker and the last art critic to work at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel just released her debut documentary Out of the Picture. The film brings the voices of critics across the nation off the page and onto the big screen for a deeply human story about art, criticism and working in journalism during the digital age.
“I don’t think that I can point to any popular culture depiction of art critics where they aren’t a stand-in for snobby elitism or out-of-touch weirdos,” explains Artnet News National Art Critic Ben Davis at the start of the documentary. This voiceover is paired with a montage of movie and TV clips poking fun at critics, including a scene featuring Jake Gyllenhaal looking unbearably pretentious in the 2019 thriller Velvet Buzzsaw. New York Magazine Senior Art Critic Jerry Saltz adds, “They basically hate us.”
In Out of the Picture, Schumacher follows five art critics over the course of a decade as they navigate the tumultuous, shifting media landscape with cameos from even more critics, experts and artists along the way. Where this film shines is in making it clear that these are real people with relatable feelings, ambitious dreams and remarkable talents.
The film is a rollercoaster of emotions. I laughed as the critics feuded online about whether an artist is brilliant or a total hack. I marveled at longtime Los Angeles Times art columnist Carolina Miranda’s ability to seek out art in every unexpected nook and cranny of her city. I cried when Jen Graves packed up her desk at The Stranger and left art criticism in the rearview.
“It really feels like he gets it,” Graves says, as her toddler sobs in the office she’s saying goodbye to.
Graves’ story best represents the hits this field keeps taking. She’s a Pulitzer Prize-nominated writer who was being asked to write faster and shorter – an insult that ultimately led to her resignation. Reflecting on her decision, she ponders if winning the Pulitzer would have made any difference. It’s pretty clear it wouldn’t have. She doesn’t write art criticism anymore.
Schumacher talks to Graves’ replacement, the energetic Jas Keimig, who runs through their seemingly impossible laundry list of responsibilities in the new gig, ranging from writing articles and managing social media to attending events and watching films for reviews. Keimig mentions that they struggle to find the time “to think,” which is obviously an important part of criticism. They ultimately burn out and quit the paper, too.
There are fewer and fewer full-time art critic positions available today, and the ones that do exist are typically demanding, poorly paid and in New York. This is a film that asks audiences to bear witness to the loss and grapples with the question: What do we lose when we lose art critics? There are times when the movie gets distracted with side stories that dilute the main point, but overall it is a profound piece of journalism that takes a long view on an important, and often mischaracterized, field.
SEE FOR YOURSELF: You can catch the Milwaukee Film Festival’s showings of Out of the Picture at the Avalon Theater on Saturday, April 13 at 3:45 p.m. and Wednesday, April 24, 3:30 p.m.
Watch the Trailer
