Discusses the 1913 Armory Show; the 1920s, a period of provincial Cubism; the 1930s of the American Scene painters and the WPA projects. Examines the 1940s Abstract Expressionists--including Gorky, Pollock, and de Kooning. Examines pop and op art, and the work of Jasper Johns and Frank Stella. Presents American sculpture from the works of Lachaise and Smith and Oldenburg and the conceptual works of Richard Serra and Sol LeWitt.