Museum Publications

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...

Through the exceptional permanent collection at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, this book looks at arms and armor as art—from warfare to war games, from hunting to the pursuit of glory. The Philadelphia Museum of Art’s holdings of arms and armor are...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Jack Lindsey(Author) with essays by Edward C. Carter ll, Richard S. Dunn, and Richard Saunders Focusing on Philadelphia's prominent role in the history of Colonial America, this exhibition catalogue surveys the decorative and fine arts produced during...

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...

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...