Michael Beahan Shnayerson (born December 2, 1954) is an American journalist and contributing editor for Vanity Fair magazine. He is the author of several books and over 75 Vanity Fair stories since 1986. [1] Two of his pieces for the magazine have been developed into films. [2]
His career started as a sportswriter for the weekly The Santa Fe Reporter in 1977 before moving on to become a staff writer for Time magazine, focusing on environmental stories, in 1978.
In 1980, Shnayerson became the editor-in-chief of AVENUE magazine, a glossy monthly distributed to upper-income households in New York and Los Angeles. In 1986, he became a staff writer at Vanity Fair and went on to publish more than 75 feature stories for the magazine over the next three decades, ranging from political pieces to art world intrigue and celebrity cover stories. Also in 1986, joined the launch staff for Condé Nast Traveler, created by famed British editor Harold Evans. [3]
His first book, in 1989, was a biography of Irwin Shaw, prominent novelist and short story writer of the mid-20th century. In 1996, he wrote The Car That Could: The Inside Story of GM's Revolutionary Electric Vehicle, which was named one of the best business books of that year by BusinessWeek. In 2002, he authored The Killers Within: The Deadly Rise of Drug-Resistant Bacteria before writing Coal River: How a Few Brave Americans Took On a Powerful Company - and the Federal Government - to Save the Land They Love in 2008. [4]
Shnayerson's fifth book was a collaborative biography of singer, actor and civil rights activist Harry Belafonte, titled My Song in 2011. In 2016, he wrote The Contender, an unauthorized biography of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, [5] while his seventh book, BOOM: Mad Money, Mega Dealers, and the Rise of Contemporary Art was released in 2019. [6]
For BOOM, Shnayerson interviewed more than 200 art world figures to write a popular history of contemporary history and the dealers who helped make the market what it became. [7] Among them were interviews with all four mega dealers, which included David Zwirner, Iwan Wirth of Hauser & Wirth, Arne Glimcher of Pace Gallery, and Larry Gagosian. [8]
BOOM begins in the post-World War II period with the rise of abstract expressionism and its nurturing by dealers Peggy Guggenheim, Betty Parsons and Sidney Janis. [9] It continues through Leo Castelli and the Pop Period, on through the 1980s most prominent dealers (Mary Boone, Larry Gagosian, Arne Glimcher) and the neo-expressionists they promoted (Julian Schnabel, Jean-Michel Basquiat, David Salle, Eric Fischl) through the fracturing of styles over the last three decades, and the explosive growth of the global contemporary art market. [10] BOOM is in its fourth printing. Television rights have been sold to producer and talent manager Guymon Casady.
Shnayerson is the son of Robert Shnayerson, a senior editor at Time and editor-chief of Harper's magazine in the 1970s, and the late Lydia Todd Shnayerson, a classical pianist. He attended the Collegiate School in Manhattan, New York from 1960 to 1972, and then attended Dartmouth, where he studied English literature and earned a bachelor of arts degree.
Shnayerson was briefly married to Cynthia Stuart, [11] daughter of actress Mary Stuart, before marrying Cheryl Merser, a fellow writer. [12] He is now married to Gayfryd Steinberg, [13] widow of Saul Steinberg. He has a daughter, Jenna, and divides his time between Manhattan and Sag Harbor, New York.
In 2004, Shnayerson contributed $2,000 to John Kerry. [14]
Jean-Michel Basquiat was an American artist who rose to success during the 1980s as part of the Neo-expressionism movement.
Mark Bowden is an American journalist and writer. He is a former national correspondent and longtime contributor to The Atlantic. He is best known for his book Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War (1999) about the 1993 U.S. military raid in Mogadishu, Somalia. It was adapted as a motion picture of the same name that received two Academy Awards.
William Langewiesche is an American author and journalist who was also a professional airplane pilot for many years. Since 2019, he has been a writer at large for The New York Times Magazine. Prior to that, he was a correspondent for The Atlantic and Vanity Fair magazines for twenty-nine years. He is the author of nine books and the winner of two National Magazine Awards.
John Currin is an American painter based in New York City. He is most recognised for his technically proficient satirical figurative paintings that explore controversial sexual and societal topics. His work shows a wide range of influences, including sources as diverse as the Renaissance, popular culture magazines, and contemporary fashion models. He often distorts or exaggerates the erotic forms of the female body, and has stressed that his characters are reflections of himself rather than inspired by real people.
Michael Monroe Lewis is an American author and financial journalist. He has also been a contributing editor to Vanity Fair since 2009, writing mostly on business, finance, and economics. He is known for his nonfiction work, particularly his coverage of financial crises and behavioral finance.
The Gagosian Gallery is a modern and contemporary art gallery owned and directed by Larry Gagosian. The gallery exhibits some of the most well-known artists of the 20th and 21st centuries. As of 2024, Gagosian employs 300 people at 19 exhibition spaces – including New York City, London, Paris, Basel, Beverly Hills, San Francisco, Rome, Athens, Geneva, and Hong Kong – designed by architects such as Caruso St John, Richard Gluckman, Richard Meier, Jean Nouvel, and Annabelle Selldorf.
Lawrence Gilbert "Larry" Gagosian is an American art dealer who owns the Gagosian Gallery chain of art galleries. Working in concert with collectors including Douglas S. Cramer, Eli Broad, and Keith Barish, he developed a reputation for staging museum-quality exhibitions of contemporary art.
The Ferus Gallery was a contemporary art gallery which operated from 1957 to 1966. In 1957, the gallery was located at 736-A North La Cienega Boulevard, Los Angeles in the U.S. state of California. In 1958, it was relocated across the street to 723 North La Cienega Boulevard where it remained until its closing in 1966.
Derek Charles Blasberg is an American writer, socialite, and fashion industry personality. He led the fashion and beauty partnerships division at YouTube from 2018 to 2022.
Maggie Shnayerson is an American journalist and blogger. She was an editor at Gawker Media's flagship site, Gawker.com and has written for TIME magazine, the New York Sun, and the New York Post. Before joining Gawker, Shnayerson was the public relations director for the Village Voice and the New York Sun.
Matthew Marks is an art gallery located in the New York City neighborhood of Chelsea and the Los Angeles neighborhood of West Hollywood. Founded in 1991 by Matthew Marks, it specializes in modern and contemporary painting, sculpture, photography, installation art, film, and drawings and prints. The gallery has three exhibition spaces in New York City and two in Los Angeles.
Piero Golia is a conceptual artist based in Los Angeles.
Jean "Johnny" Pigozzi, heir to the CEO of the automobile brand Simca, is an art collector, photographer and fashion designer. He lives in Geneva.
Jeffrey Lynn Koons is an American artist recognized for his work dealing with popular culture and his sculptures depicting everyday objects, including balloon animals produced in stainless steel with mirror-finish surfaces. He lives and works in both New York City and his hometown of York, Pennsylvania. His works have sold for substantial sums, including at least two record auction prices for a work by a living artist: US$58.4 million for Balloon Dog (Orange) in 2013 and US$91.1 million for Rabbit in 2019.
Arnold "Arne" Glimcher is an American art dealer, gallerist, film producer, and film director. He is the founder of Pace Gallery, which by 2011 sold more than $400 million in art annually. He is the father of Marc Glimcher, who succeeded him as chairman of Pace, and American scientist Paul Glimcher. From 2013 to 2017, Arne and Marc Glimcher were included each year in the ArtReview annual list of the 100 most influential people in contemporary art.
The Pace Gallery is an American contemporary and modern art gallery with 9 locations worldwide. It was founded in Boston by Arne Glimcher in 1960. His son, Marc Glimcher, is now president and CEO. Pace Gallery operates in New York, London, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, Geneva, Seoul, East Hampton, and Palm Beach.
Rabbit is a 1986 series of three identical stainless steel sculptures by Jeff Koons. One of the editions of Rabbit is the most expensive work sold by a living artist at auction, being sold for $91.1 million in May 2019.
Katherine Eban is an American investigative journalist and author. Her work has focused on public health and homeland security issues. She is a contributor at Fortune magazine and Vanity Fair and writes for a variety of other national magazines.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
