VANITY FAIR NOMINATES SIR JOHN RICHARDSON

Hall of Fame

ECAUSE his masterly portrait of Picasso—in three volumes, with one still to come—brings to life the colossus at the center of 20th-century art. BECAUSE, at 88 years of age, he continues work on the biography while curating shows of Picasso's art for the Gagosian Gallery that erudite, playful, and without the usual deathly museum pall, BECAUSE he always has time for friends, including much younger friends—among them a gang of young Guinnesses—and BECAUSE he was close to Picasso, Francis Bacon, and Lucian Freud, BECAUSE he has written for this magazine for 25 years and BECAUSE, as a writer, he loves to prick the bubbles of pomp, pretense, and convention that constantly arise in the art world, BECAUSE he knows where all the bodies are buried (and might, with a wicked twinkle in his eye, tell you, too), BECAUSE he is at home in Paris, London, and New York, BECAUSE he is a delirious collector, with a connoisseur's taste for the best in art, a crow's lust for glitter, a pack rat's relish for stuffing, and a wit's appreciation for the delicious inconsequence of kitsch, BECAUSE, by brilliantly arranging his collection of marvels, he has turned the grand enfilade of his apartment in New York into one of the city's great operatic stage sets, BECAUSE, after he was knighted by the Queen at Windsor this year, he chose to pore over oldmaster drawings in her library rather than engage in chitchat. BECAUSE he likes being called Sir John in a monarchy, but prefers just John in a democracy. BECAUSE he never forgets a story, unless it's dull. BECAUSE he does not submit to age.

MARK STEVENS