MILTON ESTEROW

Milton Esterow is editor and publisher of ARTnews. Since he bought ARTnews from Newsweek Magazine in 1972, he has guided its growth into the world's largest- circulation art magazine. ARTnews, which was founded in 1902, also publishes ARTnewsletter, a biweekly that Mr. Esterow launched in 1975 about the international art market; books on art; and sponsors conferences on the art market.

Under the direction of Mr. Esterow, ARTnews has won most of the major journalism awards presented to magazines. Since 1978, ARTnews has been honored 27 times for excellence in reporting, criticism, and design. The Society for the Silurians, an organization of veteran reporters and editors from the New York metropolitan area, has cited ARTnews six times for distinguished investigative reporting. In 1981, ARTnews won two coveted journalism awards: it became the first magazine to receive a George Polk Award for cultural reporting and the first fine-arts magazine to win a National Magazine Award for general excellence. ARTnews has also received journalism awards from The Association of Women in Communications, Investigative Reporters and Editors, the Newspaper Guild of New York, and the Press Club of Atlantic City.

In 1992, ARTnews received another George Polk Award for a "remarkable East-West journalistic collaboration" - a series of articles that first revealed that cultural treasures seized by the Red Army in Germany during World War II were still hidden in depositories in the former Soviet Union. The series was also cited by the Overseas Press Club, which gave ARTnews an award for excellence in magazine reporting.

In 1996, the Committee for Jewish Claims on Austria presented an award to Mr. Esterow "in gratitude" for the magazine's role in Austria's decision to transfer to the Jewish Community of Vienna ownership of thousands of artworks stolen by the Nazis from victims of the Holocaust. The award was a shofar, a ram's horn blown in synagogues during the High Holidays. The shofar was inscribed with the words "Sound the great shofar for our freedom. The Claims Committee told Mr. Esterow, "Since you freed the art, you blew the shofar of liberation, " and that without ARTnews "nothing would have happened".

The New York State Art Teachers Association awarded a special citation to Mr. Esterow "in recognition of distinguished scholarship, pioneering leadership in investigative reporting in the visual arts, and in appreciation of his exemplary achievements and contributions to journalism, criticism, and education in the visual arts."

Born in New York City, Mr. Esterow was a reporter for The New York Times and specialized in cultural affairs. He was a member of The Times' drama and film departments and later wrote frequently about the art world. He subsequently was appointed assistant to the cultural news editor. Mr. Esterow has lectured extensively both in the United States and abroad at venues including The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Corcoran Gallery. He is the author of The Art Stealers, published by Macmillan.