Philadelphia: Three Centuries of American Art

Hardcover
666 pages, 10 ½ x 9 in.
546 b/w illus.
Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1976, reprinted 1990
ISBN 9780876331132

This encyclopedic and fully illustrated volume is a major reference work for the arts of Philadelphia. A complete catalogue of the 1976 Bicentennial Exhibition held at the museum, it documents the art and history of the city and its environs through a chronological presentation of objects in every medium—painting, sculpture, architecture, prints, drawings, and photographs, as well as silver and pewter, furniture, ceramic and glass, and other decorative objects. Over 550 works are presented in their artistic and historical context in thoroughly researched and highly readable essays by thirty-seven scholars. Included also are detailed biographies of artists and makers. Tracing the continuous development of artistic achievement in one of the foremost centers for the arts in the nation, this major sourcebook begins with the period of the earliest colonial settlements and continues up to 1976.

Darrel Sewell is curator of American art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.