Books & Articles

Modern Art in Your Life

MoMA Bulletin, Vol. 17, No. 1

Cover design by Paul Rand

[Paul Rand] Robert Goldwater: MODERN ART IN YOUR LIFE. NYC: Museum of Modern Art, 1949. First edition (MoMA Bulletin, V. 17, No. 1, 1949). A Very Good softcover book in stiff, printed wrappers: The edges are lightly age-toned, as is common with this title. The bottom of the spine has been bumped. This is the scarce first edition from 1949--not he more common 1953 reprint. Cover design by Paul Rand is widely recognized as one of his most iconic design images. A very nice copy of this easily-abused volume.

7.25 x 9.25 softcover book with 48 pages and 143 b/w photographs and illustrations of how modern art had infiltrated everyday life in postwar America. All aspects of modern culture are represented: architecture, furniture, fabrics, ceramics, textiles, books, posters, exhibits, sculpture, graphic design, etc. This slim volume is extraordinarily comprehensive.

As usual, Rand nailed the concept of this book with a perfect visual image. Highly recommended.

Artisans whose work is featured in this volume include Piet Mondrian, George Nelson, Jean Lurcat, Theo van Doesburg, Naum Gabo, El Lissitzky, Kasimir Malevich,Ben Nicholson, Marcel Breuer, Paul Doering, Walter Gropius, Otto Haesler, Raymond Hood, George Howe and William Lescaze, Mies van der Rohe, Gerrit Rietveld, Antonin Raymond, Anni Albers, Charles Eames,Eero Saarinen, Harry Weese, Ben Baldwin, A. M. Cassandre, Tonio del Renzio, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Erik Nitsche, Stamo Papadaki, Alexander Archipenko, Fernand leger, Amedee Ozenfant, John Vassos, Jean Carlu, E. McKnight Kauffer, Jean Arp, Alexander Calder, Joan Miro, Isamu Noguchi, Oscar Niemeyer, Ben Rose, Alvin Lustig, Paul Klee, Henry Moore, Pablo Picasso, Alexander Girard, Lester Beall, Ben Shahn, Salvador Dali, Max Ernst, Rene Magritte, Yves Tanguy and many others.

— Randall Ross of modernism101.com