American Modern presents a fresh look at The Museum of Modern Art’s holdings of American art made between 1915 and 1950, and considers the cultural preoccupations of a rapidly changing American society in the first half of the twentieth century. Organized thematically and featuring paintings, drawings, prints, photographs and sculpture, the publication brings together some of the Museum’s most celebrated masterworks, contextualizing them across mediums and amidst lesser-seen but revelatory works. The selection of works by artists such as Edward Hopper, Georgia O’Keeffe, Charles Sheeler, Charles Burchfield and Stuart Davis includes urban and rural landscapes, scenes of industry, still-life compositions and portraiture. Although varying in style and specifics, they share certain underlying visual and emotional tendencies. Cityscapes and factories are shown eerily emptied of the crush of residents that flocked to them, becoming both a celebration of clean modern forms and technological advances, as in Sheeler’s paintings and photographs, and a reflection of anxiety about increasingly urban lifestyles and their consequences for the American individual, as in Hopper’s iconic “Night Windows.” Equally silent rural scenes are no less haunting, but perhaps reflect a nostalgia for seemingly simpler times, and a celebration of early American traditions and values. Featured still lifes are as diverse: Stuart Davis’ bright, angular compositions marry fractured form with logos and patterns taken from modern advertising, while Charles Demuth’s rich watercolors of fruits and vegetables celebrate agricultural bounty and his mastery of the medium. Works by Arthur Dove, Alfred Stieglitz and Andrew Wyeth, among others, suggest different possibilities in portraiture, and the diverse ways artists have thought about the figure and its absence as a way to capture their subject. This volume is a focused look at the strengths and surprises of MoMA’s collection in an area that has played a rich and major role in the institution’s history.
Featured image, "House by the Railroad" (1925), by Edward Hopper, is reproduced from American Modern: Hopper to O'Keefe.
PRAISE AND REVIEWS
WWD
Lorna Koski
In the Thirties, MoMA deliberately set out to collect the work of living American artists as a counterbalance to what was considered at the time its concentration on European works.
Time Out New York
Howard Halle
American modernism in the years before Abstract Expressionism is the focus of this exhibition, featuring iconic works from MoMA's collection by Edward Hopper, Georgia O'Keeffe, George Bellows. Alfred Stieglitz and Andrew Wyeth, among other big names.
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This weekend, The Museum of Modern Art, New York launches American Modern: Hopper to O'Keeffe, presenting 150 artworks made between 1915 and 1950. The show—an instant blockbuster—pairs iconic masterpieces with rarely seen examples of "American Modernism" from the museum's vast collection. According to The Wall Street Journal, the curators are countering "the idea that, in its early years, the museum prized European modernists like German painter Paul Klee over hometown favorites like Hopper—a claim that its staff began battling in the 1930s by giving major solo shows to American artists like Stuart Davis and Charles Burchfield… The curators' choices, known and unknown, collectively chronicle a nation surging toward factories and skyscrapers even as its people feel ambivalent about doing so. From Florine Stettheimer's white wicker-framed "Family Portrait II" (1933) to Jacob Lawrence's more dour 1940s "Migration Series" labor scenes, the panorama remains as complex as ever." Featured image, Edward Hopper's "House by the Railroad" (1925), is reproduced from American Modern. continue to blog
This weekend, The Museum of Modern Art, New York launches American Modern: Hopper to O'Keeffe, presenting 150 artworks made between 1915 and 1950. The show—an instant blockbuster—pairs iconic masterpieces with rarely seen examples of "American Modernism" from the museum's vast collection. According to The Wall Street Journal, the curators are countering "the idea that, in its early years, the museum prized European modernists like German painter Paul Klee over hometown favorites like Hopper—a claim that its staff began battling in the 1930s by giving major solo shows to American artists like Stuart Davis and Charles Burchfield… The curators' choices, known and unknown, collectively chronicle a nation surging toward factories and skyscrapers even as its people feel ambivalent about doing so. From Florine Stettheimer's white wicker-framed "Family Portrait II" (1933) to Jacob Lawrence's more dour 1940s "Migration Series" labor scenes, the panorama remains as complex as ever." Featured image, Georgia O'Keeffe's "Abstraction Blue" (1927), is reproduced from American Modern. continue to blog
This weekend, The Museum of Modern Art, New York launches American Modern: Hopper to O'Keeffe, presenting 150 artworks made between 1915 and 1950. The show—an instant blockbuster—pairs iconic masterpieces with rarely seen examples of "American Modernism" from the museum's vast collection. According to The Wall Street Journal, the curators are countering "the idea that, in its early years, the museum prized European modernists like German painter Paul Klee over hometown favorites like Hopper—a claim that its staff began battling in the 1930s by giving major solo shows to American artists like Stuart Davis and Charles Burchfield… The curators' choices, known and unknown, collectively chronicle a nation surging toward factories and skyscrapers even as its people feel ambivalent about doing so. From Florine Stettheimer's white wicker-framed "Family Portrait II" (1933) to Jacob Lawrence's more dour 1940s "Migration Series" labor scenes, the panorama remains as complex as ever." Featured image, Alfred Stieglitz' "Georgia O'Keeffe - Hands and Horse Skull" (1931), is reproduced from American Modern. continue to blog
FORMAT: Hbk, 9.5 x 12 in. / 144 pgs / 126 color. LIST PRICE: U.S. $45.00 LIST PRICE: CANADA $60 ISBN: 9780870708527 PUBLISHER: The Museum of Modern Art, New York AVAILABLE: 8/31/2013 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Active AVAILABILITY: In stock TERRITORY: NA ONLY
Published by The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Text by Esther Adler, Kathy Curry.
An authoritative overview of American modernism
American Modern presents a fresh look at The Museum of Modern Art’s holdings of American art made between 1915 and 1950, and considers the cultural preoccupations of a rapidly changing American society in the first half of the twentieth century. Organized thematically and featuring paintings, drawings, prints, photographs and sculpture, the publication brings together some of the Museum’s most celebrated masterworks, contextualizing them across mediums and amidst lesser-seen but revelatory works. The selection of works by artists such as Edward Hopper, Georgia O’Keeffe, Charles Sheeler, Charles Burchfield and Stuart Davis includes urban and rural landscapes, scenes of industry, still-life compositions and portraiture. Although varying in style and specifics, they share certain underlying visual and emotional tendencies. Cityscapes and factories are shown eerily emptied of the crush of residents that flocked to them, becoming both a celebration of clean modern forms and technological advances, as in Sheeler’s paintings and photographs, and a reflection of anxiety about increasingly urban lifestyles and their consequences for the American individual, as in Hopper’s iconic “Night Windows.” Equally silent rural scenes are no less haunting, but perhaps reflect a nostalgia for seemingly simpler times, and a celebration of early American traditions and values. Featured still lifes are as diverse: Stuart Davis’ bright, angular compositions marry fractured form with logos and patterns taken from modern advertising, while Charles Demuth’s rich watercolors of fruits and vegetables celebrate agricultural bounty and his mastery of the medium. Works by Arthur Dove, Alfred Stieglitz and Andrew Wyeth, among others, suggest different possibilities in portraiture, and the diverse ways artists have thought about the figure and its absence as a way to capture their subject. This volume is a focused look at the strengths and surprises of MoMA’s collection in an area that has played a rich and major role in the institution’s history.
