The Scharf Collection: A History Revealed

This meticulously researched catalogue presents an unprecedented examination of the Michael and Fiona Scharf Family Collection, a singularly important assemblage of American modernist works: their collection encompasses the decades when American art emerged from provincial marginalization to assume a position of international significance. Through careful analysis of over one hundred and ten artworks spanning roughly 1898 to 1938, the volume excavates the complex networks of influence and innovation that coalesced around Alfred Stieglitz’s Gallery 291. It also maps the broader transformation of American visual culture through masterworks by canonical figures like Georgia O’Keeffe and Marsden Hartley and lesser-known but equally significant artists such as Abraham Walkowitz and Konrad Cramer. The book situates these works within their precise historical contexts while illuminating the collection’s broader significance as what the catalogue terms a “hidden history” of American modernism’s emergence.

Published by SNAP Editions, New York, 2018

Essays by William C. Agee, Betsy Fahlman, Barbara Buhler Lynes, Percy North, Martica Sawin, and Gail Scott

Designed by Tim Laun Natalie Wedeking

Hardcover, fully illustrated, 188 pages

_{Artworks © various artists and Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY}