This book is the first in-depth study of the still life as interpreted and transformed by avant-garde artists of the 20th century. Published to accompany a major exhibition opening in May 1997 at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, Objects of Desire traces a radical rethinking iof the genre ion terms of subject matter and formal invention.Through unprecedented juxtapositions of works by 56 artist, Objects of Desire profiled the changing cultural values that are patently evident in the still life, reflected in the choice of objects -- from pitchers to bicycle wheels to soup cans -- and their perceptual or conceptual, objective or subversive representations.