America, and American art, truly came of age in the period between the world wars. In the beginning, the model for American Modernism evolved from the Old World. And in 1913, the Old World was unraveling, both in the political and social sense, and in the world of art.

		'A distinctive American character would attach to the stylistic innovation of the Modernists'

The great surge of stylistic innovation from the first tentative steps of the Post-Impressionists to the earthquakes of Cubism and the Fauves, had already taken hold in Europe.

The startling work of Picasso, Cezanne and Matisse triggered seismic changes in early 20th-century art; changes played out against the backdrop of a crumbling old order. From this artistic ferment in the Old World came a vanguard of American modern artists whose names are now synonymous with the great Modernist achievements in this country.