Clive Barnes
BornEngland
DiedUnited States
OccupationWriter, critic, journalist
GenreJournalism

Clive Alexander Barnes CBE (13 May 1927 – 19 November 2008) was an English writer and critic. From 1965 to 1977, he was the dance and theater critic for The New York Times, and, from 1978 until his death, the New York Post. Barnes had significant influence in reviewing new Broadway productions and evaluating the international dancers who often perform in New York City.

Life and career

Barnes was born in Lambeth, London, the only child of ambulance driver Arthur Lionel Barnes (1898–1940) and Freda Marguerite, née Garratt. After their divorce when he was seven, he was raised by his mother.[1] Barnes was educated at Emanuel School in Battersea and St Catherine's College, Oxford. He was the dance and drama critic at the New York Post from 1978 until 2008, and senior consulting editor at Dance Magazine, where he wrote a monthly column called "Attitudes". He also contributed regularly to the British journal Dance Now; he edited and wrote for British newspapers The Times, the Daily Express, and the weekly magazine The Spectator.

Barnes authored and contributed to numerous books related to theatre and the performing arts, particularly dance. These include four volumes of 50 Best Plays of the American Theatre, nine series of Best American Plays (with John Gassner), American Ballet Theatre: A 25 Year Retrospective (with Elizabeth Kaye), the foreword to Masters of Movement: Portraits of America's Great Choreographers (by Rose Eichenbaum), Ballet in Britain Since the War, New York Times Directory of the Theater, Ballet Here and Now, Dance Scene USA, Inside American Ballet Theatre, as well as biographies of Tennessee Williams[2] and Rudolf Nureyev.[3]

The British writer was known for his "lively and enthusiastic approach to criticism" which contributed to an upswing in dance criticism in New York City media. Writing for Variety, Gordon Cox said Barnes "helped nurture the explosion of the form in Gotham in the 1970s."[4] Regarding television, Barnes once wrote: "It is the first truly democratic culture, the first culture available to everyone and entirely governed by what the people want. The most terrifying thing is what people do want."[5]

Honours

He was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II in 1975, and appointed a knight of the Order of the Dannebrog in 1972 by Queen Margrethe II of Denmark.

Marriages

He was married four times. His wives included ballet writer Patricia Winckley, news columnist Amy Pagnozzi, and Royal Ballet dancer Valerie Taylor.[6]

Death

He died from liver cancer on November 19, 2008, in New York City, aged 81.[7]

Clive Barnes Awards

The Clive Barnes Foundation was established in 2009 to administer the Clive Barnes Awards.[8]

Appraisal

The Daily Telegraph noted that Barnes sometimes wrote four reviews a day, possible because New Yorkers were "greedy for his brand of pithy English open-mindedness." He was credited with having drawn attention to Nureyev and Baryshnikov, dancers who went on to attain great fame. The English writer was particularly good at identifying American talent and introducing artists like George Balanchine and Martha Graham to London audiences.[9] In his book on Broadway, The Season: A Candid Look at Broadway, William Goldman called Barnes "the most dangerous, the most crippling critic in modern Broadway history."[10] Goldman gave the following reasons for this:

(1) He has no ear for American speech; (2) he cannot deal with American drama; (3) he prefers, in all ways, English theatre to American theatre; (4) he would find it not at all ignoble if Broadway were to become primarily an importing agent; (5) he prefers ballet to theatre; (6) he is a smart ass; (7) he enjoys glorifying himself publicly through his position; (8) he changes his opinions constantly, which is certainly the right of free men, but not so helpful when the life or death of a play is based on a critic’s having the courage to say what he thinks now, not a month later in a ballet column; (g) he has little interest in learning the financial aspects of Broadway, to which he is central.[11]

References

  1. ↑ "The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. 2004. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/100573. ISBN 978-0-19-861411-1. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  2. ↑ Published 1975.
  3. ↑ Barnes, Clive (1982). Nureyev (1st ed.). New York, N.Y.: Helene Obolensky Enterprises. ISBN 0-9609736-2-1. OCLC 8846460.
  4. ↑ Cox, Gordon. "Critic was a force in arts circle." Daily Variety, vol. 301, no. 34, 20 Nov. 2008, pp. 1 ff. Gale OneFile: News, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A190243193/STND?u=wikipedia&sid=bookmark-STND&xid=5805bfc8. Accessed 23 Dec. 2021.
  5. ↑ The New York Times, December 30, 1969.
  6. ↑ "Clive Barnes, Dance Critic, Dies at 81", The New York Times, November 19, 2008.
  7. ↑ "November 13, 2018". About Last Night.
  8. ↑ "The Award (including lists of recipients)". Clive and Valerie Barnes Foundation. Archived from the original on 10 August 2022. Retrieved 23 December 2021.
  9. ↑ "Clive Barnes. Dance critic who went from working class roots in England to huge influence on Broadway". The Daily Telegraph. 21 November 2008. p. 37.
  10. ↑ Goldman, William (1984). The season : a candid look at Broadway. Limelight Edition. p. 84.
  11. ↑ Goldman pp. 91-92
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