Edited by Ann Temkin and Romy Silver-Kohn. Foreword by Anna Deavere Smith. Essays by Mary Schmidt Campbell, Sloane Crosley, Mary Gabriel, Jennifer Gray, Juliet Kinchin, Farran Smith Nehme, Nell Irvin Painter, Romy Silver-Kohn, Roberta Smith, Lanka Tattersall, Ann Temkin, Anne Umland, Kate Walbert, and Brenda Wineapple

 

The Museum of Modern Art owes much of its success to a group of remarkable women who—as founders, patrons, curators, and department directors—shaped its future during its early decades. Inventing the Modern tells the stories of fourteen pioneering women, ranging from eminences such as cofounder Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, the most recognized name among them, to several women who are today virtually unknown, such as the Museum’s longtime registrar Dorothy Dudley. There were influential curators like Iris Barry, who played an outsize role in establishing the study of film as an art form, and inventive leaders like Sarah Newmeyer, who as the Museum’s first director of publicity launched enterprising campaigns to capture the public’s imagination. These women were mavericks who turned their ideas into action: envisioning and establishing the Museum, directing departments, and transforming their disciplines.