Ann Temkin

"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 artworks, furniture, and decorative objects. Matisse's radical decision to blanket most of the work's surface in red has fascinated generations of scholars and artists,...

"This book profiles 14 pioneering figures who made an indelible mark not only on MoMA, but on the culture of their time. Inventing the Modern transports the reader to the grit and glamour of midtown Manhattan in the 1930s and '40s. It deepens our understanding of MoMA's history and contributes to a broader understanding of women's achievement in the 20th century" --