The William S. Paley Collection: A Taste for Modernism

The William S. Paley Collection: A Taste for Modernism features selections from the extraordinary private collection of William S. Paley, the late founder and guiding spirit of CBS. The exhibition features more than 60 works of art, including paintings, drawings and sculpture, some of the most striking by French modern masters. Highlights include works by Paul Gauguin, André Derain, Henri Matisse, Paul Cézanne, and Edgar Degas, most created between 1880 and 1940, at the height of French Modernism, as well as Pablo Picasso’s Boy Leading a Horse.

Paley was the charismatic entrepreneur who virtually invented CBS. He was also an unusually active trustee at The Museum of Modern Art, joining its board in 1937, when the museum was only eight years old, and rising through its ranks to become president and then chairman. Paley began buying art in the mid-1930s and he continued to do so into the early 1970s. Upon his death in 1990 at the age of 89, Paley willed his entire collection to the museum.

At Crystal Bridges, The Paley Collection complements the earlier exhibition of modern works shared with Fisk University, The Artists’ Eye: Georgia O’Keeffe and the Alfred Stieglitz Collection, and presents a rare opportunity for guests to view these masters of European Modernism that inspired many American artists. This exhibition was organized by The Museum of Modern Art, New York, and is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities. Crystal Bridges will be the last venue to offer this special temporary exhibition before it returns to MoMA. Admission is $8 for adults. Admission to all temporary exhibitions is free for Crystal Bridges members and for youth ages 18 and under.

The European Connection
The MoMA exhibition is augmented by a concurrent exhibition of works by American Modernists from Crystal Bridges’ permanent collection, including three works by Alfred Henry Maurer that have not been previously on view in the Museum. This complementary exhibition, The European Connection, will showcase the influences of European Modernism on American artists, as well as the ways in which American artists adapted European techniques to create their own distinctly American styles. Showcased in this exhibition are artists such as Stuart Davis, Marsden Hartley, Arthur Dove, and Max Weber.

At Crystal Bridges, the exhibition is sponsored by The William S. Paley Foundation, ConAgra Foods, Greenwood Gearhart Inc., KFSM-TV CBS, and Stephens Inc. This exhibition was organized by Lilian Tone, Assistant Curator, Department of Painting and Sculpture at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, and is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.