Art Beyond Isms: Masterworks from El Greco to Picasso in the Phillips Collection

"Art Beyond Isms" is an excellent book that shows more than sixty of the most important European paintings and sculpture in the Phillips Collection, the nation's first museum devoted to modern art and its sources. The only thing I knew about the museum was Auguste Renoir's beloved painting, "Luncheon of the Boating Party." The book begins with a thorough history of the museum's collection. It then goes into great details of the artwork shown which is arranged by artist. The majority of the works are from nineteenth and twentieth century France. Some of the French paintings illustrated include Renoir's already mentioned masterpiece, Matisse's ,"Interior With Egyptian Curtain", and Honore Daumier's "The Uprising." Non French artists represented include Pablo Picasso, Paul Klee and Vincent van Gogh, ." The book also explores works by earlier artists such as El Greco, and Jean Simeon Chardin who influenced painters such as Cezanne. I strongly reccomend this book to anyone who loves nineteenth and early twentieth centrury art. After looking through the book you'll realize why the Phillips Collection is more than just,"Luncheon of the Boating Party."