in  johnson joined the architecture department of the museum of modern art in new york there he arranged for american visits by gropius and le corbusier and negotiated the first american commission for mies van der rohe in  working with hitchcock and alfred h barr jr he organized the first exhibition on modern architecture at the museum of modern art in  the show and their simultaneously published book international style modern architecture since  played an important part in introducing modern architecture to the american public when the rise of the nazis in germany forced the modernists marcel breuer and mies van der rohe to leave germany johnson helped arrange for them to come to work in the united states