When Modern Was Contemporary

Book excerpt: Roy R. Neuberger (1903-2010) was one of the twentieth century's most important collectors of contemporary art in the United States. When Modern Was Contemporary: The Roy R. Neuberger Collection chronicles his work as collector, donor, and arts advocate, providing new information on a remarkable moment in the history of the development of modern art in the United States. The majority of Neuberger's acquisitions were made from the 1940s through the 1960s, and purchased within a month to a year or two of their execution, reflecting his commitment to support living artists working in the United States, particularly during the formative stages of their careers. Neuberger was not only at the forefront of purchasing works by soon-to-be-canonical artists--including Milton Avery, Alexander Calder, Helen Frankenthaler, Edward Hopper, Georgia O'Keeffe, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, and Charles Sheeler--but also by Romare Bearden, Forrest Bess, Kenzo Okada, Hedda Sterne, Rufino Tamayo, and others who were less well-known or socially marginalized in their lifetimes and whose work has only been given the attention it deserves in relatively recent scholarship. The collection reflects the diversity of Neuberger's discerning eye and his interest in artists and styles that extended beyond what was commercially popular during the era of their creation, but that have subsequently proved invaluable to our understanding of this period of art and history. When Modern Was Contemporary: The Roy R. Neuberger Collection includes an introduction by Dr. Tracy Fitzpatrick, Chief Curator at the Neuberger Museum of Art and Associate Professor of Art History, Purchase College, SUNY, as well as short essays by additional scholars and researchers on fifty of the most important works in the Roy R. Neuberger Collection, now the cornerstone of the Neuberger Museum, located on the campus of Purchase College, State University of New York. The 276-page hardcover book is fully illustrated in color.