Philip Leider, the founding editor of Artforum, died at his home in Berkeley, California, on January 11 at age 96. Leider helped transform Artforum into a leading source for rigorous art criticism after becoming its editor in 1962, but he left the publication in 1971 and largely disengaged from the mainstream art world, later teaching at the University of California, Irvine and the Bezalel Academy of Fine Arts in Israel.
Leider's death marks the end of an era for a figure who shaped the discourse of American art criticism during the 1960s. His insistence on separating art criticism from market-driven values established a model for serious art journalism, and his departure from the art world reflected a broader tension between critical integrity and commercial pressures that remains relevant today.