Modern Art: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture

by Sam Hunter, John Jacobus

Almost a half century ago, the painter Willem de Kooning said: "There's no way of looking at a work of art by itself; it's not self-evident-it needs a history, it needs a lot of talking about." The great works of modern art get talked about in this highly literate narrative overview, which traces modernism's radical essence-from its origins in the late 19th century right through the 1990s-with thoroughness, zest, and an engaging sense of adventure.

The Revised Third Edition of this popular text contains four substantial new chapters-illustrated by some 200 new plates, most in full color-depicting "a new fin de sicle almost exactly one hundred years after the revolutionary works of Czanne, Seurat, Gauguin, and van Gogh left no doubt that the art of the 20th century would be unlike anything known before."

725 photographs, 468 in full color, 8 5/8 x 11 3/8"

SAM HUNTER is emeritus professor of art history at Princeton University and a noted critic and historian of modern art. He has written numerous books, including Abrams' The Museum of Modern Art: The History and the Collection. He lives in Skilman, New Jersey.

JOHN JACOBUS, a highly regarded authority on architecture, is a professor at Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire.

DANIEL WHEELER is an author, editor, and translator of art books and a recognized expert on modern art.

Genres: Art, Reference, Art History, Nonfiction, History

408 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1976

About the author

Sam Hunter (January 5, 1923 – July 27, 2014) was an American historian of modern art. He was an author, an Emeritus professor of art history at Princeton University, director of the Jewish Museum, founding director of the Rose Art Museum at Brandeis University, acting director of the Minneapolis Institute of Art and a visiting professor at the Clark Art Institute at Williams College, Harvard University and various other institutions of higher learning.

He penned monographs, exhibition catalogues, articles, wrote the original book on the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, contributed to textbooks and various treatments of modern art. In addition to curating many museum and gallery exhibitions, Hunter has written on Francis Bacon, Tom Wesselman, George Segal, Arnaldo Pomodoro, Jackson Pollock, and many other contemporary and modern masters.

Reviews

[Juhee Park · Rating 4 out of 5]

Honestly, It can be referred to references or bibliography rather than a best seller one. Wordy yea.

[Sananab · Rating 2 out of 5]

Blarg. Sometimes this book has a lot of interesting things to say, which kept me reading. A lot of the time they're just blandly listing off as many artists as possible. This is a very frustrating book, because it could have been really good if the authors had just focused in a bit more.

[Cisco · Rating 2 out of 5]

Completely Euro-centric upper east side view of the modern and contemporary scene.

[Niche · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my textbook for Modern Art in college. I still use it as a reference book.

[Znae]

Wordy, so so wordy.