James Rosenquist: Volunteer. 1963-64, oil on canvas, 72 by 78 inches. In "Ileana Sonnabend: Ambassador for the New." © VAGA, NewYork, New York.
Not everyone who donates an iconic work of American art to MoMA is rewarded with an exhibition, but it worked for Ileana Sonnabend. The Romanian-born dealer and collector (1914-2007) had galleries in Paris and New York and is credited with introducing American pop art and Minimalism to Europe, and Arte Povera to the U.S. In addition to Robert Rauschenberg’s Canyon (1959), which her family donated to the museum in 2012, the show includes work by Mario Merz, Larry Bell, James Rosenquist, Andy Warhol, Hiroshi Sugimoto and many others.