Pablo Picasso, Boy Leading a Horse, 1905-06; oil on canvas, 7 feet, 2 7/8 inches x 51 5/8 inches; The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The William S. Paley Collection. © The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The William S. Paley Collection.
Picasso’s Boy Leading a Horse (1905–1906) catches your eye immediately on entering “The William S. Paley Collection: A Taste for Modernism,” much as it must have done when it hung in the foyer of Paley’s Manhattan apartment. As head of CBS, Paley (1901–1990) transformed a clutch of struggling radio stations into a communications empire that he headed from 1928 until his last years. His life with his wife Babe kept reporters busy, chronicling his mercurial managerial style and her fashionable march through the society columns. Paley’s interest in art began with a trip to France in the mid-1930s, and he quickly acquired many works with the help of the agent (and later publisher) Albert Skira, including the Picasso brought in 1936 to a Swiss ski resort for Paley’s inspection. Paley spent many years on MOMA’s board and his gift of art filled many gaps in the museum’s collection. William Rubin, the MOMA director emeritus, observed that Paley’s preference for modernism over Old Masters “came naturally to a young man whose achievements and wealth arose from new technologies.”
Paul Cézanne, Milk Can and Apples, 1879-80; oil on canvas, 19 3/4 x 24 inches; The Museum of Modern Art, New