The Modern West: American Landscapes by Emily Ballew Neff, Book, copyright 2006

The Modern West: American Landscapes, 1890–1950 is a landmark exhibition catalog that reexamines the role of the American West in the development of modern art. Published in conjunction with a major exhibition organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the volume brings together paintings, photographs, Native American works, prints, and other visual arts that demonstrate how Western landscapes and cultures helped shape American modernism during the first half of the twentieth century.

Written by Emily Ballew Neff, with an essay by acclaimed author Barry Lopez, the book challenges traditional interpretations of American art history by placing the West at the center of the modernist experience. Through extensive scholarship and exceptional illustrations, the publication explores the ways artists responded to the region's dramatic landscapes, Indigenous cultures, environmental conditions, and rapidly changing society.

Featured artists include Georgia O'Keeffe, Ansel Adams, Laura Gilpin, Maynard Dixon, Ernest Blumenschein, Raymond Jonson, Vance Kirkland, Thomas Hart Benton, Jackson Pollock, and many others whose work expanded the definition of American modernism. Native American artistic traditions are also represented, emphasizing the diversity of artistic expression that contributed to the visual culture of the American West.

Richly illustrated and thoughtfully researched, this substantial volume remains an important reference for collectors, museums, scholars, and enthusiasts of Western American art, modernism, photography, and Native American art.

Author: Emily Ballew Neff
Essay by: Barry Lopez
Publisher: Yale University Press in association with the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Copyright: 2006
Format: Softcover
Pages: 315
ISBN: 9780300114485
Illustrations: 136 color and 83 black-and-white illustrations throughout