Wholesale Being Modern: Building MoMA's Collection

Featuring paintings, prints, drawings, photographs, sculptures, video, film, architecture and design—from Paul Cézanne’s iconic painting "The Bather" (c. 1885) to a set of the 176 digital emoji we use on our mobile phones every day—the catalogue underscores the diversity and relevance of MoMA’s collection while providing a fresh perspective on the modern canon. The book is organized chronologically according to the year each artwork entered the Museum’s collection. Short texts by curators accompany the plates, giving an overview of each work’s significance as well as a behind-the-scenes look at the process by which MoMA acquired it. An essay by the Museum’s director, Glenn D. Lowry, outlines the history of the institution and puts the collection in context, and a concise chronology charts the Museum’s growth. A departure from the usual “highlights” book, this unique catalog presents MoMA’s extraordinary collection from a new angle, telling the story of modern art through the growth of an institution that embraced an aesthetic revolution in the early 20th century and evolved along with it into the 21st.