Modern Painting (Illustrated Edition‪)‬

"Modern Painting: Its Tendency and Meaning" surveys the important art movements of 19th and early 20th century, from Manet and Impressionism to Cubism, with special praise of Cézanne's work. The book is a detailed study of the development of art, with some incredible historical facts. It also predicted a coming era in which an art of color abstraction would replace realism.

S. S. Van Dine is the pseudonym used by American art critic Willard Huntington Wright when he wrote detective novels. He was an important figure in avant-garde cultural circles in pre-WWI New York, and under the pseudonym he created the immensely popular fictional detective Philo Vance. Wright was, however, most respected in intellectual circles for his writing about art, best known of which is the book Modern Painting: Its Tendency and Meaning.