Book Modernity: MoMA in Paris - Thames & Hudson

Released as an accompaniment to the first major exhibition in Paris of works from the Museum of Modern Art, Being Modern: MoMA in Paris presents over one hundred paintings, sculptures, architectural drawings, design objects, photographs, films, video games, and much more, telling the story of how these items became part of one of the world's largest collections of modern and contemporary art. A brief essay by a MoMA curator introduces each entry, providing fascinating insights into the artworks themselves as well as the circumstances of their acquisition by the Museum. The book, organized chronologically by the year each item entered the MoMA collection, offers a rare glimpse into the inner workings of the Museum.

The Thames & Hudson company was founded in 1949 by Walter and Eva Neurath. Their greatest passion and mission was to create a "museum without walls" and to make the world of art accessible to a wide audience, as well as the research of leading scholars. To reflect international perspectives, the company's name combined the rivers flowing through London and New York, represented in its logo by two dolphins symbolizing friendship and intelligence, one facing east, the other west, suggesting a connection between the Old World and the New.

Today, still an independent, family-owned company, Thames & Hudson is one of the world's leading publishers of illustrated books with over 2000 titles in print. It publishes high-quality collectible books in all areas of visual creativity: the arts (fine, applied, decorative, performing), architecture, design, photography, fashion, film, and music, as well as archaeology, history, and popular culture. The list of children's books is also expanding. Based in London with a sister company in New York and subsidiaries in Melbourne, Singapore, and Hong Kong. In Paris, another subsidiary, Interart, distributes English-language books in France.

History of the Thames & Hudson brand

Walter Neurath was born in Vienna in 1903. In 1938, he left his hometown—where he ran an art gallery and published illustrated books—for London. Initially, he worked as a production director at Adprint, a brand founded by Viennese émigré Wolfgang Foges. Neurath and Foges developed the innovative concept of what is today called book packaging (or co-edition publishing), where book ideas are developed, commissioned, produced, and sold to publishers operating in different markets and languages to create large print runs, thereby reducing unit production costs. Neurath's concept was the first of many innovations he introduced to the publishing world through Thames & Hudson.

Wishing to continue packaging {collectible books|books} in the second edition and recognizing the need to amortize the high production costs of illustrated books, Neurath established his own publishing house, with offices in London and New York in the autumn of 1949. Eva Neurath, who arrived in London from Berlin in 1939, was a co-founder.

Of the ten titles published on the first Thames & Hudson list in 1950, English Cathedrals, with photographs by Martin Hürlimann, was the first and most successful. A testament to the brand's strong belief in the longevity of books from the very beginning, it remained in print until 1971. The first year of publication also saw "Out of My Later Years" by Albert Einstein, an early indicator of the program's breadth. With the gradual and successful expansion of the list, which grew from ten titles in 1950 to 144 in 1955, the company moved its offices to High Holborn and in 1956 relocated to a Georgian townhouse at 30 Bloomsbury Street, near Bedford Square, then the epicenter of book publishing in London. The company remained at this address, eventually expanding to five houses, until 1999, when it returned to High Holborn.

In 1958, Thames and Hudson launched one of their most renowned series, World of Art, which became the foundation of a highly diverse list. Characterized by their pocket size and black spines, the series expanded within just seven years to include 49 titles. Nearly 60 years later, the series boasts over 300 titles, with Christopher Frayling noting that "paint-splattered copies can be found in every art school in the country." Other significant series that added depth and prestige to the list include Ancient People and Places, edited by Glyn Daniel, which since the 1950s has sparked pioneering interest in archaeology, both in book form and on television. Over 34 titles were published in the series over 34 years. The large-format series Great Civilizations, released in 1961, featured contributions from esteemed scholars such as Alan Bullock, Asa Briggs, Hugh Trevor-Roper, A. J. P. Taylor, and John Julius Norwich. After building one of the most important publishing houses in Europe in less than two decades, Walter Neurath passed away in 1967 at the age of 63. Sculptor Henry Moore wrote that "his death was a loss to our cultural life." Sir Herbert Read noted that Neurath "more than any other person was responsible for the revolution in publishing art books" and was "one of those rare entrepreneurs who successfully combined business acumen with idealism." Eva Neurath became chairperson. Walter's son, Thomas, who joined the company in 1961 along with his sister Constance, became managing director; Constance later served as art director for several decades. Both Thomas and Constance remain on the board of Thames & Hudson, as do Thomas's daughters, Johanna and Susanna. From producing the first commercial edition of The Book of Kells to the triumphant publication of the six-volume Vincent van Gogh - The Letters, from technical innovations like "French folds" to the controversial documentation of graffiti art in Subway Art, Thames and Hudson have always been at the forefront, both culturally and in production techniques. The year 2016 opened an extraordinary new chapter for the company, announcing a publishing partnership with two of the world's leading museums: the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum. The world of art and scholarship thus remains at the heart of Thames & Hudson's publishing program, which stays true to its core principle: providing a "museum without walls." Today, Thames & Hudson is a recognizable international brand, a symbol of English publishing. Their catalog includes thousands of intriguing book titles, many of which are elite collector's editions.