Lost Art: Missing Artworks of the Twentieth Century

Many assume that modern works of art are easily preserved; that their whereabouts can be readily established, thanks to sophisticated documentation sys­tems; and that, in general, they are not subject to loss or destruction. But many important works have disappeared over the last century in a variety of ways, including war, theft, natural catastrophe, and carelessness. Most signifi­cantly, loss itself has been a major theme within modern and contemporary art, with elements of transience central to the practice of many well-known figures.