Josie Thaddeus-Johns is a writer and editor currently living in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Agnes and Catherine Gund.

How Agnes Gund became an art-world hero

A documentary directed by her daughter sets out just why the collector and philanthropist is beloved by so many

16 Nov 2020
John Giorno (1936–2019).

New York confidential – John Giorno’s memoir, reviewed

In his posthumously published memoir, the poet recollects his life as a lover of some of the greats of the New York art scene

27 Aug 2020
John Cage foraging in Grenoble, France, in 1971.

Morel compass – John Cage’s mania for mushrooms

For the avant-garde composer, mushroom-foraging was closely linked to his ideas about sound and spontaneity

Tomb of the Unknown Whore (No. 2) (1965), William N. Copley.

Sex and the city – William N. Copley in New York

The American artist fused Surrealism and Pop to create an eccentric – and highly erotic – style that was all his own

31 Mar 2020