Overview: This exhibition of 26 large-scale works (except for 3 boxes by Cornell and 2 small paintings by Mark Tobey) presented some of the diverse styles of post-World War II New York. The works came from 19 private collections and were by 23 artists including Willem de Kooning, Arshile Gorky, Robert Motherwell, Louise Nevelson, Isamu Noguchi, Mark Rothko, and Jackson Pollock. (Pollock's Blue Poles was sold to the Australian National Gallery 3 weeks before the exhibition opened.)

Organization: William C. Seitz, the 1971-1972 Kress Professor, and other members of the Gallery staff, including Gaillard Ravenel, selected the works for the exhibition.