Emily Genauer (1911–2002)

Emily Genauer was born on Staten Island, New York, where her father owned several delicatessens and was an amateur sculptor. After studying at Hunter College and Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism, she went to work as a writer for The New York World in 1929. She rose to become an art critic in the 1930s and was a columnist for several New York City newspapers into the 1980s. She married Frederick Gash, a businessman and patron of the arts, but retained her birth name as her byline. Genauer introduced many modern artists to her readers, championing Marc Chagall, Diego Rivera, and Pablo Picasso, among others. In 1974, working for the Newsday Syndicate, she won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished art criticism. She also wrote books about art and served on the National Council on the Humanities from 1966 to 1970.