This exhibition catalogue selects the work of outstanding artists from the United States and abroad that were featured in the Guggenheim's eight Exxon National and International exhibitions. This program, which spanned almost a decade and was dedicated to showing the work of younger artists, culminates here with an exhibition of nineteen artists previously featured. The catalogue includes images of each of the artists' work in color or black-and-white as well as a separate section profiles including biographical information, a list of exhibitions, and a selected bibliography. The catalogue essay by Diane Waldman reaffirms the Guggenheim's commitment to young, living artists while also providing a retrospective look at not only the Exxon exhibitions, but by extension, the evolving work of the late 20th century.

Beginning in 1978, with the support of the Exxon Corporation, the Guggenheim Museum inaugurated a new series of exhibitions, also designed to provide visibility for an emerging generation of promising young artists. We decided that it would be best to alternate, on an annual basis, between presentations of art from America and abroad. In focusing on one nation rather than on many, the Museum sought to identify artists who articulated their national origin and at the same time acknowledged an awareness of international developments in contemporary art. In keeping with this premise, each of the curators involved in the series was encouraged to select a relatively small number of artists and to provide each with the opportunity of showing more than one or two examples of his or her work.