The first issue of Art Monthly, published in 1976, contained an obituary for Marcel Broodthaers designed by Richard Hamilton and an artist's page by Carl Andre — the same Carl Andre whose pile of bricks at the Tate Gallery was, at that precise moment, the most controversial artwork in Britain. It was, as opening statements go, a declaration of intent. The magazine's founders, Peter Townsend and Jack Wendler, were not interested in making a publication that would ingratiate itself with the art establishment. They were interested in covering it — critically, independently, and without apology.
The pairing was improbable and effective. Townsend, a former editor of Studio International, was a radical with a remarkable past: he had supported the Chinese revolution and personally met both Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai. He brought publishing experience and a taste for political engagement. Wendler was an American collector who had run a small London gallery dedicated to Conceptual art between 1971 and 1974, showing artists like Robert Barry. He brought the money. Together, they created a magazine that was deliberately printed on cheap paper with few illustrations — more political journal than art glossy — and filled it with the kind of writing that made powerful people uncomfortable. An early contributor, Peter Fuller, conducted interviews so aggressive that reading them decades later still produces a wince: his exchange with the dealer Leslie Waddington remains a masterclass in creative hostility.
Townsend was dismissed as editor in 1992 — he went on to found an Australian edition — and Patricia Bickers took over, guiding the magazine for decades with the same editorial policy outlined in the very first issue: to provide informed coverage of contemporary art and the issues that surround it. In 2017, Art Monthly became a registered charity. In 2019, it was redesigned by the Fraser Muggeridge studio — a refresh that made the magazine more readable while preserving its visual connection to the 1976 original. The team remains tiny: seven people, all of whom are also artists, writers, musicians, or teachers.
In October 2026, Art Monthly will publish its 500th issue, marking fifty years of continuous publication — making it the longest-running contemporary art magazine in Britain. The two-volume Talking Art interview series, spanning conversations with over 315 artists and critics since 1976, has become an indispensable historical resource. The magazine's survival is not just a commercial achievement. It is evidence that there is a permanent audience for art criticism that is serious, independent, and occasionally infuriating — and that such criticism is worth sustaining, even when the institutions it covers would prefer a quieter publication.
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