This generously illustrated volume, the first in the Art of the Twentieth Century series, introduces and explores a range of contemporary issues and debates about art and its place in the wider culture today.

The opening chapter discusses key concepts such as modernity, modernism, autonomy, spectatorship, and globalization. Four case studies follow, each devoted to a specific work of art across the span of the century: Marcel Duchamp's Bottlerack, Barnett Newman's Eve, Ana Mendieta's Silueta series, and Yarla by the Australian Aboriginal Yuendumu community. These works have been selected not only for their intrinsic interest but also for the way in which they open up wider questions of meaning and interpretation that are central to understanding twentieth-century art.