Film criticism is a dying field. Literally. The great and influential critic (and painter and college professor) Manny Farber died on Sunday at the age of 91. From the late '40s to the early '70s, Farber wrote film and arts criticism for such publications as The New Republic, Time, and Artforum, and his collection of reviews and essays, Negative Space: Manny Farber On The Movies, had an enormous impact on the next generation of film critics. Farber was most famous for penning an essay called "White Elephant Art vs. Termite Art" for Film Culture magazine in 1962; in a film world where bloated, self-important visions (i.e. "White Elephant Art") was favored over less pretentious, less ostentatious B-movies and genre films (i.e. "Termite Art"), Farber helped reverse critical thinking and championed many worthy underdogs.
A number of eloquent remembrances have been popping all over the web. A good place to start is Ray Pride's informative and passionate obituary over at Movie City News. From there, go to eulogies from former Premiere critic Glenn Kenny, Phil Nugent at the Nerve blog The Screengrab, and Jim Hoberman at Village Voice, which includes an appreciation he wrote on Farber back in 1981.