If I could be any historical figure, living or dead, instead of myself, Peggy Guggenheim just might be the one I'd choose.
She was born on the poorer side of a family with great wealth. Lost her father in the sinking of the Titanic. Worked in her cousin's bookshop as a young woman - for independence, not the money - then turned her back on it all to live a Bohemian life in Europe in the 20s after marrying Dadaist artist Laurence Vail - meeting everyone who was anyone in the world of literature, art and culture.
She befriended artists Max Ernst (she was married to Ernst for a time), Yves Tanguy, Marcel Duchamp and many in their circle, then rescued some of them and many works of art from the Nazis first with her gallery Guggenheim Jeune in London then in New York with Art of This Century, one of the first galleries to show modern European art in the US. She went on to become the patron of promising post WWII American artists - notably Jackson Pollock - then packed up once again in 1949 and moved her formidable collection to Venice to her palazzo on the Grand Canal where she lived until her death in 1979.
The palazzo is now the Peggy Guggenheim Collection museum and is one of my very favorite places on earth.
Out of This Century is her own memoir and is an entertaining read and glimpse into the private life of this very extraordinary human being.
2 comments:
I had no idea about Peggy Guggenheim. I always figured the museum was named for some dead white guy. Thanks!
Nope. Dead white chick, LOL! Kidding aside, she was controversial - an art groupie of sorts according to some, who collected artists and really didn't know anything about art. Maybe they were jealous? I think she just followed her heart, lived in an exceptional time in history and learned along the way. Sure, being even a minor heiress helped a lot. I can't even think of any person who is like her today - male or female. She was more than a collector and made her life a work of art while producing no 'art' of her own.
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