Modern Starts: People, Places, Things

Walter Benjamin's "the object IS the theory" certainly complies with this marvellous book. Lots of pics and intelligent texts make a very important catalogue of new insights in art history. Although art historians know lots of the depicted art works already, this book re-orders them in quite a startling and refreshing way, telling the story of early modern art in a very concrete and no-nonsense, but richly articulated way. Wonderful imaginative associations with the classic moderns we all had are now elevated in this new canon. The theories on which this catalogue are based are simple and instructive, enlightening.