Robert Hughes was one of the great combative art critics of the late twentieth century.

There is a lot to say about him, which is ironic, being his seemingly only mode of expression. He is erudite without reverence, funny without becoming glib, and deeply suspicious of anything that takes the shape of persuasive machinery. Nothing If Not Critical gathers essays written largely for Time across the 1970s and 1980s, moving through several centuries of art and criticism with Hughes’s characteristic mixture of historical knowledge, close looking and highly developed intolerance for bullshit.

The range is enormous — Goya, Chardin, Reynolds, Degas, Picasso, Lucian Freud and many others — but I suppose it has to be when you want to explore why certain works remain alive, how technique carries thought, how institutions and markets distort artistic value, and what criticism is actually for if not discrimination. He can be savage, but the savagery usually comes from attention and deep down, a place of care. He insists that art deserves better than prestige, fashion or inherited consensus. A terrific collection for anyone interested in criticism as a literary form in its own right.

Harvill / HarperCollins, London, 1991. First edition thus. Paperback. Light rubbing and shelf wear to covers, with minor edge wear; internally clean and unmarked. Very good condition.