American Icons

When the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMoMA) reopened its doors in 2016 after significant renovations, it showcased its renowned collections of modern and contemporary art alongside the incomparable collection of contemporary works assembled by Doris and Donald Fisher, co-founders of the Gap company, of which the museum is the custodian.

The exhibition presented at the Grand Palais during the MoMA's renovation juxtaposes around fifty works from the Fisher collection with about twenty works from the SFMoMA collection.

The catalog offers a selection of paintings and sculptures from the collection, created by fifteen of the most influential American artists from World War II to the present day. Their works, introduced by an essay on each artist, reflect a wide diversity of movements and styles, all driven by an innovative exploration of materials, colors, and forms.

Alexander Calder and Ellsworth Kelly illustrate the beginnings of abstraction in the 1940s and 1950s, followed by Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol, whose works are emblematic of the pop art movement. Some artists closely associated with minimalism, such as Carl Andre, Dan Flavin, Donald Judd, and Sol LeWitt, emerged almost simultaneously in New York in the early 1960s. The innovative paintings of Richard Diebenkorn, Brice Marden, Agnes Martin, and Cy Twombly showcase various approaches to abstract painting, which emerged in the United States in the 1950s and 1960s.

Richard Serra, on the other hand, embodies the boldness and determination of American abstract sculpture in the second half of the 20th century.

This book presents one of the most significant private collections of modern and contemporary art in the world.

The exhibition will be on display at the Musée Granet in Aix-en-Provence from July 11th to October 18th.