Ann Temkin

Since its founding in 1929, The Museum of Modern Art in New York has brought the history of modern and contemporary art to vivid life through its extraordinary holdings. MoMA Masterpieces provides a fresh look at the Museums exceptional collection as it stands today. Ann Temkins introduction addresses the historical construction of the Museums collection and explores the shifting issues that have guided its acquisitions, while the thoughtful selection of reproduced works highlights the range of artworks and ideas that constitute the evolving foundation of the Museums collection. With 126 years spanning the distance between the works on the first and last pages of this book, MoMA Masterpieces offers an unparalleled opportunity to immerse oneself in the multitude of artistic approaches encompassed under the banner of modern art.

Published in conjunction with the first large-scale retrospective of Picasso's sculpture in the US since The Museum of Modern Art's historic show of 1967, "Picasso Sculpture" is a sweeping survey of the artist's profoundly innovative and influential work in three dimensions.Over the course of his long career, Picasso devoted himself to sculpture wholeheartedly, if episodically, using both traditional and unconventional materials and techniques. Unlike painting, in which he was formally trained and through which he made his living, sculpture occupied a uniquely personal and experimental status in Picasso's oeuvre. He kept the majority of his sculptures in his private possession during his lifetime, and it was only in the late 1960s that the public became fully aware of this side of his oeuvre. "Picasso Sculpture" presents approximately 150 sculptures--many of them captured in newly commissioned and sometimes multi-view photographs--alongside a selection of works on paper and photographs. Organized into chapters that correspond to distinct periods during which Picasso devoted himself to sculpture, the publication features an introduction by the exhibition curators as well as a richly illustrated documentary chronology focusing on the sculptures included in the exhibition. A comprehensive bibliography and list of historic exhibitions related to Picasso's work in sculpture closes the volume, advancing the understanding of Picasso's practice and lifelong commitment to constant reinvention.

The adventures, mysteries and many lives of a Matisse masterpiece Created in 1911, Henri Matisse's The Red Studio would go on to become one of the most influential works in the history of modern art. The painting, which has hung in MoMA's galleries since 1949, depicts the artist's studio in the Parisian suburb of Issy-les-Moulineaux, filled with his own artworks, furniture and decorative objects. Matisse's radical decision to saturate the work's surface with red has fascinated generations of scholars and artists, yet much remained to be discovered about the painting's genesis and history. Published in conjunction with an exhibition that reunites the artworks shown in The Red Studio for the first time since they left Matisse's work space, this copiously illustrated catalog examines the paintings and sculptures depicted in it, from familiar works such as Young Sailor II (1906) to lesser-known pieces whose locations have only recently been discovered. A narrative essay by Ann Temkin, the Marie-Josée and Henry Kravis Chief Curator of Painting and Sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and Dorthe Aagesen, Chief Curator and Senior Researcher at Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen, traces the life of The Red Studio, from the initial commissioning of the work in 1911 through its early history of exhibition and ownership to its arrival at MoMA after World War II. The book features a rich selection of archival materials, including photographs, letters and ephemera, many of which have never before been published or exhibited. With its groundbreaking research and close reading of the work, Matisse: The Red Studio transforms our understanding of this landmark of 20th-century art.