The distinguished curator, critic, collector, art historian, and teacher William Rubin was a forceful presence for over two decades at The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) from the late 1960s through the 1980s. He was extraordinarily successful at acquiring for the collection such monuments of modern art as Pollock's One: Number 31, 1950 and Picasso's 1914 sheet-metal Guitar. The exhibitions he mounted as Chief Curator and later Director of the Department of Painting and Sculpture at the Museum--among them the unprecedented Pablo Picasso: A Retrospective--set a standard of curatorial excellence. A Curator's Quest is the story of the professional life of a pioneering curator who built the Modern's unparalleled collection, and a history of MoMA itself during that key period.

For anyone interested in the history and world of modern art, in connoisseurship and collecting, and in art scholarship in general, A Curator's Quest is at once an indispensable addition to the history of modern art and a testament to William Rubin's life and achievements--is truly a publishing event.

Review

"This major monument to a groundbreaking curator provides evidence of how Rubin's vision shapes our view of modern art."

(--Library Journal)

"Here we see Rubin as a lustful, vigilant hunter with a keen eye, a diplomat who brokered art deals with Russia during the Cold War, and a consummate businessman who instigated the advantageous though controversial process of taking sealed bids from dealers when selling works of art. Interwoven with detailed stories of how, for how much and from whom Rubin acquired artworks are his personal tastes, honest opinions and passionate descriptions."

(Bloomberg News) --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.