Museum Publications

In 1930, the Philadelphia Museum of Art acquired the collection of  medieval and Renaissance sculpture and decorative arts assembled by  Edmond Foulc (1828–1916). Foulc’s beautiful Paris residence was an important gathering place for...

Active from the late 1700s through the early twentieth century, the Peale family was America’s first artistic dynasty. This overview of the art of the Peales presents more than 160 works in a variety of media from the renowned collection of the...

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s David Lebe (b. 1948) pushed the boundaries of photography, creating nuanced and visually complex images using innovative techniques. Often enhancing his prints with hand-coloring, Lebe made experimental pinhole photographs,...

This important publication offers the  first in-depth exploration of contemporary artist Bruce Nauman's  monumental works Contrapposto Studies, I through VII and Contrapposto  Studies, i through vii of 2015/2016. The book surveys Nauman's...

American Furniture, 1650–1840: Highlights from the Philadelphia Museum of Art is the first publication dedicated to one of the finest collections of its type in the country. Best known for furniture by artisans from Philadelphia and southeastern...

The publication will feature new, unpublished material related to the concept, filming, post-production, and installation of a new work by artist Rachel Rose (American, b. 1986). This new work, jointly commissioned and acquired by the Philadelphia Museum...

By Timothy Rub and Amanda Sroka In a sustained exploration of the possibilities of abstraction, Sean  Scully (b. 1945) has created a rich body of work throughout his 50-year  career. Sean Scully: The Shape of Ideas sets his entire output...

Celebrate the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s world class Arms and Armor collection and the release of our new book with a special offer for Members only.  For a limited time, members will receive a free enamel helmet pin with the purchase of Arms...

This book showcases highlights from the Dietrich American Foundation, established in 1963 by H. Richard Dietrich Jr. and focused on 18th-century American fine and decorative arts. Essays explore the formation of the collection and its many areas of...

Designs for Different Futures records the concrete ideas and abstract dreams of designers, artists, academics, and scientists exploring how design might reframe our futures, socially, ethically, and aesthetically. Encompassing nearly one hundred...

Edited by Dilys E. Blum; with essays by Dilys E. Blum and Mary Schoeser, and a contribution by Julie Schafler Dale This is the first publication to consider art to wear, also known as wearable art, as a discrete American movement that mirrored the...

Jennifer A. Thompson (Author) with contributions by Joseph J. Rishel and Eileen Owens Featuring ninety highlights from the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s stellar collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art, this handsome volume includes iconic...

Hiromi Kinoshita (Author) This richly illustrated catalogue of highlights from the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s wide-ranging collection of Chinese art, spanning antiquity to the present day, includes such gems as Ming gold vessels and imperial court...

Matthew Affron (Author) With contributions by Cécile Debray, Alexander Kauffman, Michael R. Taylor, and John Vick This book offers an engaging and accessible introduction to one of the twentieth century’s greatest and most enigmatic artists, Marcel...

Carlos Basualdo (editor) with essays by Carlos Basualdo, Olena Chervonik, Richard Fletcher, Emily Greenwood, and Nicola Del Roscio This revelatory publication provides a comprehensive and multifaceted account of Cy Twombly’s masterpiece Fifty Days at...

Jessica Todd Smith (Author) With an emphasis on painting and sculpture made in the United States between 1910 and 1950, this gorgeously illustrated volume offers a rich introduction to American modernism through the world-class collection of the...

David B. Brownlee (Author) Building the City Beautiful by historian David Brownlee, originally published in 1989, is the definitive book on the history of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia. Between 1871 and 1929, Philadelphia planned and...

John Ittmann (Editor), Cordula Grewe (Editorial Consultant) From the 1770s through the 1840s, German, Austrian, and Swiss artists used the medium of printmaking to create works that synthesized poetry, literature, music, and the visual arts in new and...

Jill DeVonyar (Author), Richard Kendall (Author) Among the supreme masterpieces of 19th-century art are Edgar Degas's dramatic, incisive, and often brilliantly colored pictures of the ballet. Yet despite his enormous popularity as the foremost artist of...

Michael R. Taylor (Author) with essays by Andrew Lins, Melissa S. Meighan, and Beth A. Price, Ken Sutherland, Scott Homolka, and Elena Torok In his early thirties, Marcel Duchamp convinced everyone that he had abandoned making art in favor of playing...

Out of print for a number of years, this facsimile of Marcel Duchamp’s Manual of Instructions was prepared by the artist for the disassembly of Étant donnés in his New York studio and its reassembly at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. First published more...

Edited by James R. Tanis and Jenny A. Thompson Philadelphia’s diverse public libraries, universities, scholarly institutions, and museums hold numerous—but often little-known—treasures, including many hand-produced manuscripts decorated with miniature...

Alexandra Alevizatos Kirtley (Author), Peggy A. Olley (Author) with an essay by Jeffrey A. Cohen This handsome book explores in depth a group of stunning painted and gilded furniture designed by the architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe, best known for...

Carlos Basualdo (Editor, Contributor), Anna Mecugni (Editor, Contributor), Timothy Rub (Foreword), Katherine Sachs (Contributor), Joseph J. Rishel (Contributor), Peter Barberie (Contributor), Erica F. Battle (Contributor), Adrianne O. Bratis...

Ainsley M. Cameron (Author) and Darielle Mason (Author) This publication presents the first in-depth survey of the Conley Harris and Howard Truelove Collection of Indian Drawings, which was recently acquired by the Philadelphia Museum of Art. This...

Kathleen A. Foster (Author) and Mark Tucker (Author) Thomas Eakins is acknowledged as one of the preeminent American painters of the 19th century. As a young artist in 1875 he prepared a monumental painting for the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia...

Christopher D.M. Atkins (Author) Peter Paul Rubens proudly described his monumental painting Prometheus Bound as first among “the flower of my stock.” This singular work demonstrates how Rubens engaged with and responded to his predecessors Michelangelo...

By Felice Fischer and Kyoko Kinoshita The Kano lineage of painters—the most important in Japan—was established in the late fifteenth century by Kano Masanobu (1434–1530) and continued for nearly 400 years. Originally limited to successive generations of...

By Lisa Minardi, with an interview by Ann Percy Among the most beloved forms of American folk art, fraktur is a Germanic tradition of decorated manuscripts and printed documents noted for its use of bold colors and whimsical motifs. This publication...

Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw (Author) and Richard J. Powell (Author) This publication highlights nearly 150 objects in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art that were created by American artists of African descent. Introduced with an essay by the...

With an introduction by Timothy Rub, the George D. Widener Director and Chief Executive Officer The Philadelphia Museum of Art. This fully updated and beautifully redesigned handbook is the essential guide to the encyclopedic collections of the...

By Innis Howe Shoemaker, Nancy Ash (Contributor), and Eliza Spaulding (Contributor) Richard Pousette-Dart (American, 1916–1992) is best known as an American painter of mid-20th-century Abstract Expressionism, although his work was distinct for its...

Peter Barberie (Editor), Amanda Bock (Editor), Martin Barnes (Contributor), Karen Beckman (Contributor), Tsitsi Jaji (Contributor), Maria Antonella Pelizzari (Contributor), Samantha Gainsburg (Contributor) Through his amazing variety of innovative...

Edited by Hyunsoo Woo; with essays by Insoo Cho, Hongkyung Kim, Woollim Kim, So-hyun Kwon, Dongsoo Moon, Unsok Song, and Hyunsoo Woo and a chronology by Rose E. Lee Treasures from Korea is the first major publication outside of Korea to survey the...

Edited by Anna Vallye; With contributions by Christian Derouet, Maria Gough, et al. With his landmark 1919 painting The City, Fernand Léger (1881–1955) inaugurated a vitally experimental decade during which he and others redefined the practice of...

Jennifer A. Thompson (Author) The official guide to the Rodin Museum, complete with full-color photos, illustrations, and illuminating essays.

Kathleen A. Foster (Author) The Life Line, a thrilling scene of rescue on stormy seas, firmly established Winslow Homer (1836–1910) as one of the leading American painters of his day, and one of the foremost maritime artists of all time. Combining a...

Ruth Fine (Author),‎ Shelley R. Langdale (Author) Since its founding in 1972, the Brandywine Workshop has become an internationally recognized center for printmaking and a vital part of the Philadelphia community. In 2009 the workshop donated one hundred...

Editor: Joseph J. Rishel The notion of a golden age set in an earthly paradise has long kindled the human imagination. Virgil envisioned such a place of bucolic pleasures—erotic and unsullied, sometimes shadowed by blunted desires and doubts—in his...

By Jack Hinton Beautiful and eminently useful, stonewares produced in the German-speaking lands from the Middle Ages onward were highly valued for their durability and suitability for a range of domestic and social uses. Widely traded throughout Europe,...

Pierre Terjanian (Author) This striking publication examines two masterful armors for man and horse recently acquired by the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Among the earliest complete European examples in existence, these German works demonstrate the...

Pritzker Prize–winning architect Zaha Hadid, known internationally for her radically innovative buildings, has designed furniture and objects since the beginning of her professional practice. This lesser-known aspect of her career takes center stage for...

Mark S. Tucker (Author), Lloyd DeWitt (Editor), Seymour Slive (Preface), Blaise Ducos (Contributor), Franziska Gottwald (Contributor), George Keyes (Contributor), Shelley Perlove (Contributor), Larry Silver (Contributor), Ken Sutherland...

By Michael R. Taylor This scholarly catalogue provides an engaging analysis of Chagall’s life and career in the early decades of the twentieth century. Featured throughout are the paintings and works on paper that the artist created during these years,...

By Dilys E. Blum Italian couturier Roberto Capucci (born 1930) is revered by contemporary fashion designers for his innovative silhouettes and masterful use of color and materials. Capucci refers to his creations as "studies in form" and draws...

Darielle Mason (Author) with essays by Pika Ghosh, Katherine Hacker, Darielle Mason, Anne Peranteau, and Niaz Zaman This first book-length study on kantha published outside of South Asia focuses on two premier collections.  One assembled by the...

Felice Fischer (Author) From Japan’s first forays onto the international stage of world’s fairs in the late nineteenth century to the dynamic creativity of the 1920s and 1930s, and from the heady post–World War II period to the present day, Japanese...

By Kathleen Foster Labeled as a traveling American folk artist when he was rediscovered in the mid-20th century, the mysterious Thomas Chambers here receives a fresh and creative reassessment. Although his distinctive sea and landscapes appear in many...

By Katy Friedland and Marla K. Shoemaker An art museum is a magical place. What will you find inside? This playful primer features 37 full-color illustrations of paintings, sculpture, tapestries, prints, photographs, and installations from the...

By Susan Gray Detweiler, with an introduction by David L. Barquist The china used by First Families, both at the White House and in their private homes, reveals a fascinating story of culture and society as they have evolved in the United States since...

By Felice Fischer, with Kyoko Kinoshita; with essays by Jonathan Chaves, Sadako Ohki, and Shimatani Hiroyuki Ike Taiga (1723–1776) and his wife, Tokuyama Gyokuran (1727–1784), were preeminent artists in eighteenth-century Japan. This landmark book—the...

Darrel Sewell (Editor) with essays by Kathleen A. Foster, Nica Gutman, William Innes Homer, et al. Thomas Eakins s one of the most fascinating and important personalities in the history of American art. His memorable and much-loved scenes of rowing,...

Rachel Arauz (Author), Ann Temkin(Author), Anne D'Hamoncourt(Author), et al. Featuring pivotal works of twentieth-century painting and sculpture, this book handsomely illustrates a selection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s outstanding modern art...

John Ittmann (Editor) with contributions by Innis Howe Shoemaker, James M. Wechsler, and Lyle W. Williams Mexico witnessed an exciting revival of printmaking alongside its better-known public mural program in the decades after the 1910–20 revolution...

Ann Temkin (Author) , Gabriel Orozco(Author), and David Sylvester(Author) In 1993 Gabriel Orozco removed a lengthwise section of a Citroën DS and reconnected the two sides, making the car’s fleet form look lighter yet. Orozco continues his...

Joseph J. Rishel (Author) with Suzanne Stratton-Pruitt This monumental book transcends geographic boundaries and explores the history of the confluence of styles, materials, and techniques among Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas from Columbus's...

By Peter Barberie, with an essay on the photographic materials by Beth A. Price and Ken Sutherland Renowned for his alluring and provocative photographs of the monuments, interiors, streets, and people of Paris and its environs, Eugène Atget carefully...

In 1772, a group of Philadelphia artisans published Prices of Cabinet and Chair Work, a 36-page booklet listing furniture forms, retail prices, and journeymen's wages. Rediscovered in 2003, the single surviving copy of this remarkable publication,...

David B. Brownlee (Author), with a preface by Robert Venturi. Color photography by Graydon Wood. Architecture, art history, and city politics come together in this lively account of the evolution of the building that houses the Philadelphia Museum of Art...

When the Philadelphia lawyer John G. Johnson began to collect art in the late nineteenth century, he defied contemporary taste by acquiring Italian paintings from the early Renaissance. He eventually donated his distinguished collection to the City of...

By H. Kristina Haugland One of the most admired women in the world, Grace Kelly (1929–1982) is remembered for her beauty, poise, and style. Her “fairy-tale” wedding to Prince Rainier of Monaco in 1956 was one of the most celebrated of the century. To...

Christian Marclay (Author), Susan Rosenberg (Editor), Thomas Levin (Contributor), Thaddeus Squire (Contributor) Two of Philadelphia's most famous cracked icons, The Liberty Bell and Marcel Duchamp's The Large Glass, are perhaps rarely thought of as...

Suzanne Ramljak(Author) with an introduction by Darrel Sewell Published to mark the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show, Crafting a Legacy showcases the Museum’s burgeoning collection of contemporary American crafts...