The William S. Paley Collection

William S. Paley, founder of CBS, Inc., and a towering figure in the modern entertainment, communication and news industries, was also an enthusiastic collector of twentieth-century art and a committed supporter of The Museum of Modern Art. This volume presents his extraordinary collection of 84 paintings, sculptures, prints and drawings by some of the most important figures of modern art, including Paul Cézanne, André Derain, Paul Gauguin, Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso, bequeathed to the Museum in one of the most significant transfers of a private collection to a public institution at the time. Aside from loans made to MoMA exhibitions, his collection was seldom seen by the public until it was left to the William S. Paley Foundation for donation to the Museum. This edition was originally published in 1992 for a series of traveling exhibitions organized by MoMA.

William S. Paley, well known as Chairman of the Board for CBS, was an avid collector of modern art. This catalog of the Paley Collection, which now belongs to the Museum of Modern Art, attests to Paley's taste and judgment. The authors provide astute, scholarly, and well-documented commentary for many of the significant artworks in the collection. Paley began his collecting in 1933 when he bought a Cezanne. He went on to collect paintings, drawings, sculpture, and prints by Matisse, Gauguin, Maillol, Picasso, Degas, Toulouse-Lautrec, Rodin, Derain, Roualt, Albers, Louis, and others. This handsome catalog would make a useful addition to art libraries.
- Douglas G. Campbell, George Fox Coll., Newberg, Ore.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.