. Features works by some of the 20th-century’s leading artists, including Georgia O'Keeffe, Alexander Calder, David Hockney, Wayne Thiebaud, Richard Diebenkorn, Jackson Pollock and Roy Lichtenstein Combining outstanding artworks and engaging text, this striking book captures many of the defining moments of modernism. It features over 80 innovative paintings and sculptures by key artists of the 20th-century-all from the outstanding collection of Sam Rose and Julie Walters. Picasso, Miro, O'Keeffe, Pollock, and Warhol created art that defined cubism, surrealism, American modernism, abstract expressionism, and pop. The crosscurrents and intersections that give modernism its complexity and energy are further revealed in works by artists as diverse as Neel, Bearden, Lichtenstein, Stella, Hockney, and Diebenkorn. Why and how 20th-century artists broke the rules and transformed the look of art is the subject of Virginia Mecklenburg’s introductory essay. Each work is then superbly illustrated and discussed through such themes as portraiture, nature, metaphor, and social engagement. All of the paintings and sculptures are clearly positioned within the context of the artist’s career. These insightful explorations of the works of 33 inventive artists illuminate the wider arc of modernism.
Published in conjunction with the exhibition of the same title, on view at the Smithsonian American Art Museum from October 30, 2015-April 3, 2016. AUTHOR: Virginia Mecklenburg is the chief curator at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the author of Modern Masters: American Abstraction at Midcentury (2009)
CONTRIBUTORS: Karen Lemmey is the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s new curator of sculpture.
Joann Moser is the deputy chief curator, Smithsonian American Art Museum. E. Carmen Ramos is the curator of Latino art at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. 105 colour