Huneker, James Gibbons (1860–1921)

US critic and musician. In 1887 he began to write for the Musical Courier and continued to write for a series of newspapers and periodicals until his death, broadening his subjects to include drama, art, literature, and the cultural scene in general. He also published over a dozen books, including some serious studies of musicians such as Chopin: The Man and His Music 1900, but mostly wide-ranging commentaries, such as Ivory, Apes and Peacocks 1915.

He was born in Philadelphia. Switching from law to musical studies, he became a teacher at the National Conservatory of Music, New York City 1886–98. In his day he was greatly admired for his keen wit, erudition, iconoclasm, and brilliant style – an American George Bernard Shaw; but his tastes in art remained conservative and later generations found his prose old fashioned.