The most discussed exhibition of the past few months—at least in some circles—was not the Brooklyn Museum’s over-hyped “Sensation,” but rather “Modernstarts: People, Places, Things,” the Museum of Modern Art’s truly sensational, genuinely provocative multi-disciplinary reconception of how the story of modernism can be told.[1] “Which did you like better,” a fellow critic asked me recently, in the midst of talking about something else entirely, “‘People’ or ‘Places’?” “‘People!’” “Really?” she asked. “I liked ‘Places.’” “But the sculpture room in ‘People’ is so extraordinary,” I said. “Oh, the sculpture room is amazing!,” she said. “They should keep that installation. But what about the crime scene photographs in ‘Places’?” We went on comparing favorite morsels, ...

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