MoMA Masterpieces

MoMA Masterpieces: Painting & Sculpture is a catalogue highlighting some of the most significant works from the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Each piece is illustrated in a full-page colour plate; there is a general introduction, though there is no individual analysis of the selected artworks. Author Ann Temkin has been MoMA's chief curator of painting and sculpture since 2008. MoMA Masterpieces, published in the UK by Thames & Hudson, is also available in a US edition published by MoMA itself, titled Painting And Sculpture At The Museum Of Modern Art.

MoMA is the world's greatest museum of modern art and design, home to masterpieces such as Picasso's Demoiselles d'Avignon and van Gogh's Starry Night. The Museum's first director, Alfred H Barr, designed a flowchart tracing the history of modern art; Barr and the Museum largely defined the narrative of Modernism in America, as Temkin discusses in her introduction: "the taste of Barr and his colleagues was often far ahead of the public's. The Museum was founded as an educational institution and took as its mission the conversion of skeptics into believers." This was achieved with comprehensive exhibitions such as The International Style, The Art Of Assemblage, and The History Of Photography.