American art collector
Marguerite
"
Peggy
"
Guggenheim
(
GUUG
-?n-hyme
; August 26, 1898 ? December 23, 1979) was an American
art collector
,
bohemian
, and
socialite
. Born to the wealthy
New York City
Guggenheim family
, she was the daughter of
Benjamin Guggenheim
, who went down with the
Titanic
in 1912, and the niece of
Solomon R. Guggenheim
, who established the
Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation
. Guggenheim collected art in Europe and America between 1938 and 1946. She exhibited this collection as she built it. In 1949, she settled in
Venice
, where she lived and exhibited her collection for the rest of her life. The
Peggy Guggenheim Collection
is a modern art museum on the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy, and is one of the most visited attractions in Venice.
Early life
[
edit
]
Guggenheim's parents were of
Ashkenazi Jewish
descent. Her mother, Florette Seligman (1870?1937), was a member of the
Seligman family
. When she turned 21 in 1919, Guggenheim inherited US$2.5 million, equivalent to US$43.9 million in 2023. Guggenheim's father,
Benjamin Guggenheim
, a member of the
Guggenheim family
, who died in the sinking of the
Titanic
, had not amassed a fortune comparable to his siblings; therefore her inheritance was far less than that of her cousins. She had a sister,
Barbara Hazel Guggenheim
, who became a painter and art collector.
[1]
She first worked as a clerk in an
avant-garde
bookstore,
the Sunwise Turn
, in
Midtown Manhattan
, where she became enamored of the members of the
bohemian
artistic community.
[2]
In 1920, she went to live in
Paris
. Once there, she became friendly with avant-garde writers and artists, many of whom were living in poverty in the
Montparnasse
quarter of the city.
Man Ray
photographed her,
[3]
and was, along with
Constantin Brancu?i
and
Marcel Duchamp
, a friend whose art she was eventually to promote.
She became close friends with writer
Natalie Barney
and artist
Romaine Brooks
and was a regular at Barney's
salon
. She met
Djuna Barnes
during this time and in time, became her friend and patron. Barnes wrote her best-known novel,
Nightwood
, while staying at the Devon country house, Hayford Hall, that Guggenheim had rented for two summers.
Guggenheim urged
Emma Goldman
to write her autobiography and helped to secure funds for her to live in
Saint-Tropez
, France, while writing her two volume
Living My Life
.
[4]
Guggenheim wrote her autobiography entitled
Out of This Century
, later revised and re-published as
Confessions of an Art Addict
[5]
that was released in 1946
[6]
and is now published by
Harper Collins
.
[7]
Collecting, before World War II
[
edit
]
In January 1938, Guggenheim opened a gallery for modern art in London featuring
Jean Cocteau
drawings in its first show, and she began to collect works of art. Guggenheim often purchased at least one object from each of her exhibitions at the gallery.
[8]
After the outbreak of
World War II
, she purchased as much abstract and
Surrealist
art as possible.
[5]
Her first gallery was entitled
Guggenheim Jeune
, the name ingeniously chosen to associate her gallery with both the epitome of a gallery, the French
Bernheim-Jeune
, and bearing the name of her own well-known family. The gallery on 30
Cork Street
, next to
Roland Penrose
's and
E. L. T. Mesens
' show-case for the Surrealist movement, proved to be successful, thanks to many friends who gave advice and who helped to run the gallery.
Marcel Duchamp
, whom she had known since the early 1920s when she lived in Paris with her first husband Laurence Vail, had introduced Guggenheim to the art world; it was through him that she met many artists during her frequent visits to Paris. He taught her about contemporary art and styles and he conceived several of the exhibitions held at
Guggenheim Jeune
.
The Cocteau exhibition was followed by exhibitions of
Wassily Kandinsky
(his first
solo exhibition
in England),
Yves Tanguy
,
Wolfgang Paalen
, several other well-known artists, and some lesser-known artists. Peggy Guggenheim held group exhibitions of sculpture and collage, with the participation of the now-classic moderns
Antoine Pevsner
,
Henry Moore
,
Henri Laurens
,
Alexander Calder
,
Raymond Duchamp-Villon
,
Constantin Brancu?i
,
John Ferren
,
Jean Arp
,
Max Ernst
,
Pablo Picasso
,
Georges Braque
, and
Kurt Schwitters
. She also greatly admired the work of
John Tunnard
(1900?1971) and is credited with his discovery in mainstream international
modernism
.
Plans for a museum
[
edit
]
When Guggenheim realized that her gallery, although well received, had suffered a loss of £600 in the first year, she decided to spend her money in a more practical way. A museum for contemporary arts was exactly the institution she could envision supporting. Most certainly influencing her were the adventures in
Manhattan
of her uncle,
Solomon R. Guggenheim
, who, with the help and encouragement of artist Baroness
Hilla von Rebay
, had created the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation two years earlier. The main aim of that foundation had been to collect and to further the production of
abstract art
, resulting in the opening of the Museum of Non-Objective Painting (known after 1952 as the
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
) during 1939. Guggenheim closed
Guggenheim Jeune
with a farewell party on 22 June 1939, at which colour portrait photographs by
Gisele Freund
were projected onto the walls. Together with the English
art historian
and
art critic
Herbert Read
, she started making plans for a Museum of Modern Art in London. She set aside $40,000 for its operating expenses, however, these funds were soon overstretched by the ambitions of the organizers.
In August 1939, Guggenheim left for Paris to negotiate loans of artworks for the first exhibition. In her luggage was a list drawn up by
Herbert Read
for this occasion. Shortly after her departure the Second World War broke out, and the events following 1 September 1939 made her abandon the scheme, willingly or not. She then "decided now to buy paintings by all the painters who were on Herbert Read's list. Having plenty of time and all the museum's funds at my disposal, I put myself on a regime to buy one picture a day."
When finished, she had acquired ten
Picassos
, forty
Ernsts
, eight
Miros
, four
Magrittes
, four
Ferrens
, three
Man Rays
, three
Dalis
, one
Klee
, one
Wolfgang Paalen
, and one
Chagall
, among others. In the meantime, she had made new plans and, in April 1940, had rented a large space in the Place Vendome as a new home for her museum.
Guggenheim had to abandon her plans for a Paris museum a few days before the Germans reached Paris and she fled to the south of France, from where, after months of safeguarding her collection and artist friends, she left Europe for Manhattan in the summer of 1941. There, in the following year, she opened a new gallery?which was partially a museum?at 30 West
57th Street
. It was entitled
The Art of This Century
. Three of its four galleries were dedicated to
Cubist
and
Abstract art
,
Surrealism
, and
Kinetic art
, with only the fourth, the front room, being a commercial gallery. Guggenheim held other important shows ? such as the Exhibition by 31 Women, the first documented all-women art exhibition in the United States of America ? at the gallery.
[10]
This 1943 month-long exhibition gathered together artists ranging from notable figures such as
Frida Kahlo
,
Gypsy Rose Lee
,
Meret Oppenheim
,
Leonora Carrington
, and
Louise Nevelson
, to others who were unknown artists in New York.
[11]
[12]
[13]
[14]
In 2023, art collector Jenna Segal curated The 31 Women Collection, based on the 1943 exhibition. Taking place at Segal's office, the same location as Peggy Guggenheim's Art of This Century Gallery, the exhibition lasted for 31 hours spread out during May 15 to May 21. Aiming to "sharpie women into history", Segal set out to collect works by every artist shown in the original exhibition so that their art could be shared with the world. As of May 2023, 143 works by 30 of the 31 women have been acquired. At the 2023 exhibition, one work per artist was displayed to the public.
[15]
[16]
Guggenheim's interest in contemporary art was instrumental in advancing the careers of several important modern artists, including the American painters
Jackson Pollock
and
William Congdon
, the Austrian surrealist
Wolfgang Paalen
, the sound poet
Ada Verdun Howell
, and the German painter
Max Ernst
, whom she married in December 1941.
[17]
She had assembled her collection in only seven years.
[5]
The collection, after World War II
[
edit
]
Following
World War II
and her 1946 divorce from
Max Ernst
, she closed The Art of This Century Gallery in 1947 and returned to Europe, deciding to live in
Venice
, Italy. In 1948, she was invited to exhibit her collection in the disused Greek Pavilion of the
Venice Biennale
. In 1949, she established her collection in the
Palazzo Venier dei Leoni
('unfinished palazzo of the lions') on the Grand Canal.
[5]
Her collection became one of the few European collections of modern art to promote a significant number of works by Americans. She became acquainted with painter and sculptor
Edward Melcarth
, a fellow American hailing from
Louisville, Kentucky
. Melcarth, known for his figurative paintings and eroticized depictions of the male body, designed Peggy a pair of hand-sculpted bat sunglasses, rising in ranks amongst Guggenheim’s Tanguy earrings and Calder jewelry as the late collector’s signature accessory.
[18]
In the 1950s she promoted the art of two local painters, Edmondo Bacci and Tancredi Parmeggiani. By the early 1960s, Guggenheim had almost stopped collecting art and began to concentrate on presenting what she owned. She loaned out her collection to museums in Europe and in 1969 to the
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
in Manhattan, which was named after her uncle. Eventually, she decided to donate her home and her collection to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, a gift that was concluded
inter vivos
in 1976, before her death in 1979.
The
Peggy Guggenheim Collection
is one of the most important museums in Italy for European and American art of the first half of the twentieth century. Works in her collection embrace
Cubism
,
Surrealism
, and
abstract expressionism
.
[19]
Guggenheim lived in Venice until her death in
Camposampiero
near
Padua
, Italy, following a stroke. Her ashes are interred next to her dogs in the garden of her home, the
Palazzo Venier dei Leoni
. Later it was renamed as the Nasher Sculpture Garden in the
Peggy Guggenheim Collection
.
[5]
Personal life
[
edit
]
According to both Guggenheim and her biographer
Anton Gill
, while living in Europe, she "slept with 1,000 men".
[20]
She claimed to have had affairs with numerous artists and writers, and in return, many artists and others have claimed affairs with her. When asked by conductor Thomas Schippers how many husbands she had, she replied, "You mean my own, or other people's?"
[21]
[22]
In her autobiography, Peggy provided the names of some of those lovers, including
Yves Tanguy
,
Roland Penrose
, and
E. L. T. Mesens
.
Her first marriage was to Laurence Vail, a
Dada
sculptor and writer with whom she had two children, Michael Cedric Sindbad Vail (1923?1986) and
Pegeen Vail Guggenheim
(1925?1967). They divorced circa 1928 following his affair with writer
Kay Boyle
, whom he later married. Soon after her first marriage dissolved, she had an affair with
John Ferrar Holms
, a writer suffering with writer's block who had been a war hero.
[5]
[24]
She then lived with the writer and Communist activist
Douglas Garman
for several years.
Starting in December 1939, she and
Samuel Beckett
had a brief, but intense affair, and he encouraged her to turn exclusively to modern art.
[5]
She married her second husband, painter
Max Ernst
, in 1941 and divorced him in 1946.
[17]
Among her eight grandchildren is
Karole Vail
, who was appointed director of the
Peggy Guggenheim Collection
in 2017.
[26]
In popular culture
[
edit
]
- Guggenheim was portrayed by
Amy Madigan
in the movie
Pollock
(2000), directed by and starring
Ed Harris
, based on the life of
Jackson Pollock
.
- A play by Lanie Robertson based on Guggenheim's life,
Woman Before a Glass
, opened at the Promenade Theatre on Broadway, New York on March 10, 2005. This one-woman show focuses on Guggenheim's later life.
Mercedes Ruehl
played Guggenheim and received an
Obie Award
for her performance.
[27]
In May 2011, the Abingdon Theater Arts Complex in New York featured a revival of the play, starring veteran stage actress Judy Rosenblatt, directed by
Austin Pendleton
.
[28]
- In Bethan Roberts' first play for radio,
My Own Private Gondolier
, Guggenheim's troubled daughter,
Pegeen
, leaves her three children behind when she travels to Venice to spend the summer with her mother. The play was first broadcast on
BBC Radio 4
on October 19, 2010; Guggenheim was played by
Fiona Shaw
; Pegeen was played by
Hattie Morahan
.
[29]
- In April 2015, a new
documentary film
,
Peggy Guggenheim: Art Addict
, began premiering at film festivals, including the
San Francisco Jewish Film Festival
on July 26, 2015.
- Guggenheim was portrayed by
Jodhi May
in the 2023 Netflix television series
Transatlantic
.
References
[
edit
]
Notes
- ^
"The Collector"
.
The New Yorker
. 2002-05-06
. Retrieved
2022-04-23
.
- ^
Peggy Guggenheim (Marguerite Guggenheim), American art collector
at the
Encyclopædia Britannica
- ^
"Peggy Guggenheim, Man Ray, 1924"
.
Rijksmuseum
.
- ^
"Living My Life | The Anarchist Library"
.
revoltlib.com
. 23 January 2017
. Retrieved
2017-07-31
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
Walsh, John.
"The priceless Peggy Guggenheim"
,
The Independent
, October 21, 2009, accessed March 12, 2012
- ^
Esterow, Milton (5 January 2017).
"The Bitter Legal Battle over Peggy Guggenheim's Blockbuster Art Collection"
.
Vanity Fair
. Retrieved
2020-08-26
.
- ^
"Confessions of an Art Addict"
.
HarperCollins
. Retrieved
2020-08-26
.
- ^
Laurence, Tacou-Rumney (1996).
Peggy Guggenheim : a collector's album
. Paris. p. 84.
ISBN
2080136100
.
OCLC
35396116
.
{{
cite book
}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
link
)
- ^
Shenker, Israel (December 24, 1979).
"Peggy Guggenheim Is Dead at 81; Known for Modern Art Collection"
.
Encyclopedia Titanica
.
- ^
Relf, Nina (2021-05-19).
"31 Women: Peggy Guggenheim And Her Groundbreaking Exhibition"
.
DailyArt Magazine
. Retrieved
2023-03-01
.
- ^
"Peggy Guggenheim Is Dead at 81; Known for Modern Art Collection"
.
www.encyclopedia-titanica.org
. 2004-09-10
. Retrieved
2023-03-01
.
- ^
"The Notorious "31 Women" Art Show of 1943"
.
The Gotham Center for New York City History
. 23 February 2016
. Retrieved
2023-03-01
.
- ^
"THE PEGGY GUGGENHEIM EXHIBITION "31 WOMEN" IS HAVING A COMEBACK"
.
Material Magazine
. 2017-06-16
. Retrieved
2023-03-01
.
- ^
Loos, Ted (2023-05-05).
"The Broadway Producer Aiming to 'Sharpie Women Into History'
"
.
The New York Times
.
ISSN
0362-4331
. Retrieved
2023-12-21
.
- ^
"Peggy Guggenheim's History-Making Exhibition '31 Women' Has Been Revived Thanks to a Visionary Collector"
.
Vogue
. 2023-05-05
. Retrieved
2023-12-21
.
- ^
a
b
Biography, Peggy Guggenheim Collection
Archived
2013-03-15 at the
Wayback Machine
Retrieved June 25, 2010
- ^
"Style Eye-Con"
.
Minnie Muse
. Retrieved
2024-03-11
.
- ^
"Peggy Guggenheim Collection"
.
guggenheim.org
. The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. 2004
. Retrieved
14 June
2017
.
- ^
"Thomas Messer"
,
Telegraph
obituary, 23 May 2013
- ^
Esterow, Milton (5 January 2017).
"The Bitter Legal Battle over Peggy Guggenheim's Blockbuster Art Collection"
.
Vanity Fair
.
- ^
John Lahr
(March 14, 2005).
"Solos and Solitaries"
.
The New Yorker
.
- ^
Vail, Karole P. B.
Peggy Guggenheim: A Centennial Celebration
Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation (1998), p. 78.
ISBN
0-8109-6914-9
- ^
Barone, Joshua.
"The Peggy Guggenheim Collection Names Its New Director"
,
The New York Times
, June 8, 2017, accessed July 30, 2017
- ^
Woman Before a Glass
at the
Internet Off-Broadway Database
- ^
Gates, Anita (May 19, 2011).
"She Loved Herself, Yes, but She Also Loved Art"
.
The New York Times
. Retrieved
July 17,
2021
.
- ^
"Network Radio BBC Week 42: Tuesday 19 October 2010"
.
BBC Press Office
. Retrieved
July 17,
2021
.
Sources
Further reading
[
edit
]
- Davidson, Susan and Philip Rylands, eds. (2005). "Peggy Guggenheim & Fredrick Kiesler: The Story of Art of This Century" (exhibition catalogue), Venice: Peggy Guggenheim Collection
ISBN
0-89207-320-9
- Dearborn, Mary V.
Affairs of the Art: Mistress of Modernism, The Life of Peggy Guggenheim
(Houghton Mifflin, 2004,
ISBN
0-618-12806-9
)
- Gill, Anton
(2003-05-13).
Art Lover: A Biography of Peggy Guggenheim
. New York: Perennial.
ISBN
0-06-095681-X
.
- Prose, Francine
(2015).
Peggy Guggenheim ? The Shock of the Modern
.
Yale University Press
.
ISBN
978-0300203486
.
- Weld, Jacqueline Bograd.
Peggy, the Wayward Guggenheim
(New York: E. P. Dutton, 1986)
External links
[
edit
]
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