Claire Barliant is a writer and freelance editor based in Brooklyn. She writes art reviews for Time Out New York, Artforum, and Art in America, as well as the “Goings On About Town” section of the New Yorker, and has contributed essays to numerous catalogues. She is currently a master lecturer at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia.
Essay 
From a Waxy Yellow Buildup to a Nervous Breakdown: The Fleeting Existence of Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman by Claire Barliant
The nervous breakdown will be televised: In the 1970’s, producer Norman Lear’s hit sitcoms tackled racism, feminism, and class struggle without losing the laugh track. His show Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman aimed elsewhere: an ironic hybrid of soap opera and satire, the result was oddly real, unsettling, and sincere.