Crosscurrents makes a significant contribution to the study of modernism. Featuring a wide array of modern and contemporary artists, including Richard Diebenkorn, Georgia O’Keeffe, David Hockney, Roy Lichtenstein, Jackson Pollock, and Wayne Thiebaud, it provides a vital insight into the way the rise of modernism in the mid-twentieth century shaped the art world forever.

In her essay Breaking the Rules Virginia M. Mecklenburg, chief curator at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, documents the rise of modernism in America, as the boundaries between European and American art and culture continued to break down and merge throughout the twentieth century.