Hills’ essay traces Alfred H. Barr Jr.’s formulation of Abstract Expressionism as the embodiment of US values of freedom and artistic quality during the Cold War. Drawing on the Museum’s archives and Barr’s handbook to the collection “What is Modern Painting?” published in multiple editions and languages, she analyzes this influential guidebook to the collection, … Continue reading “Truth, Freedom, Perfection” Alfred Barr’s What Is Modern Painting? As Cold War Rhetoric