American visionaries - Whitney Museum of American Art

American Visionaries is a landmark publication highlighting masterworks in the Whitney Museum's extensive and unparalleled collection of 20th-and 21st- century American art. Organized by artist, the book features over 280 artists and over 390 works in all media. Although each artist has at least one illustration, many are represented by images of several works in different media. Unlike other museum handbooks, this book underscores one of the Whitney's unique characteristics - its philosophy of collecting in-depth, across media boundaries- and distinguishes it from other museum collection books. In addition, each artist has a text of 200-500 words that discusses the artist, career, work, and provides a context for understanding each artist's work within a larger art historical framework. These texts are written by the Whitney's curatorial staff as well as outside writers, experts in the field of 20th century American art. An introductory essay by Maxwell L. Anderson, Director of the Whitney and identifies important moments in the story of 20th century American art as they relate to the Museum.;This book is written for a general audience and serves as both a primer and required reading for anyone interested in American art.