The Steins Collect : Matisse, Picasso, and the Parisian Avant-Garde by Janet C Bishop; Cecile Debray and Rebecca A. Rabinow - 2011

San Francisco, California; New Haven Connecticut: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art / Yale University Press, 2011. Hardcover. As new in shrinkwrap (pics show older copy not in shrinkwrap). Grey cloth. Greytone dust jacket with illustration, 492 pp. 384 plates and additional illustrations -- nearly 500 images total. From the cover fold: As American expatriates living in Paris, the writer Gertrude Stein, her brothers Leo and Michael, and Michael's wife Sarah were absolutely pivotal in shaping the city's vibrant cultural life in the early 20th century. This book explores the Steins' extraordinary collections and their enduring cultural influence. Published on the occasion of the first exhibition of the Steins' collections in more than 40 years and accompanying an exhibition held at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, May 21-Sept. 6, 2011, and later in Paris and New York. The 11 essays by distinguished contributors explore such themes as the Steins' impact on art making and collecting practices in Europe and the U.S.; the intense sibling rivalries that developed around key artists and ideas; the roots of Leo's aesthetic theories in the thought of William James and Bernard Berenson; Sarah and Michael's role in founding the Academie Matisse; Gertrude's complex relationship with Picasso and their artistic influence on each other; Le Corbusier's radical villa design for the family; and much more. Includes a trove of archival photographs illustrating how the Steins displayed their artworks, a facsimile of Sarah Stein's notebook of Matisse's teachings, and an extensive chronology detailing the lives of the family members.