Charlie Finch

Charles Baker Finch Jr. (April 22, 1953 – August 24, 2022) was an American art critic who wrote for Artnet and Coagula.

Charlie Finch
Born	Charles Baker Finch Jr. (1953-04-22)April 22, 1953 New York City, U.S.
Died	August 24, 2022(2022-08-24) (aged 69) New York City, U.S.
Occupation	Art critic
Education	Yale University (BA)
Period	1992–2012
Spouse	Mary Truitt ​ (div. 1981)​ Marion Callis ​ (divorced)​
Children	Charles

Early life

Finch was born in Manhattan on April 22, 1953.^[1] His father was a business executive and his mother was a buyer and homemaker.^[1] He attended Phillips Academy, received a bachelor's degree in political science from Yale University in 1974, and enrolled at Union Theological Seminary, but did not graduate.^[2]

Career

In the 1980s, Finch hosted a radio program called Artbreaking on WBAI and was a one-time culture columnist for the Paris Review online.^[3] He also operated a short lived art gallery in the East Village which he named Real Art.^[4]

In 1992, Finch began writing for Coagula Art Journal, and he became known for his often vitriolic and controversial reviews.^[5] He then wrote for Artnet from 1996 to 2012.^[6] While his defenders praised him as passionate, his writing was also criticized as overly gossipy or cruel.^[1]

Personal life and death

Finch was married twice, first to Mary Truitt, the daughter of sculptor Anne Truitt, and then to Marion Callis; both marriages ended in divorce, with his first marriage dissolving in 1981.^[1] With Truitt, he had a son, novelist Charles Finch.^[1][7]

On August 24, 2022, Finch, according to his son, either jumped or fell to his death from the window of his East Village apartment in Manhattan.^[8][4] He had been ill with cancer for about a decade, and a neighbor speculated that he may have been also distressed about his finances, as he lived in his apartment under rent control, and the building had recently been sold.^[1][4]