He was extraordinarily successful at acquiring for the collection such monuments of modern art as Pollock's One: Number 31, 1950 and Picasso's 1914 sheet-metal Guitar. The exhibitions he mounted as Chief Curator and later Director of the Department of Painting and Sculpture at the Museum--among them the unprecedented Pablo Picasso: A Retrospective--set a standard of curatorial excellence. A Curator's Quest is the story of the professional life of a pioneering curator who built the Modern's unparalleled collection, and a history of MoMA itself during that key period.For anyone interested in the history and world of modern art, in connoisseurship and collecting, and in art scholarship in general, A Curator's Quest is at once an indispensable addition to the history of modern art and a testament to William Rubin's life and achievements--is truly a publishing event.