Margaret Guggenheim, world-famous patron of the arts, gallery owner, art collector and philanthropist, was born in New York on August 26, 1898. She went down in history as Peggy Guggenheim. Her contribution to the development of contemporary fine arts is truly invaluable. Peggy was the youngest of three children of Benjamin Guggenheim, a major Jewish American industrialist who died on the Titanic in April 1912.
Biography. Early years
In publications about Peggy's life, journalists often write that the girl's childhood was not a happy one. She grew up lonely and unloved, because her parents lived their own lives: her mother was known as a socialite and rarely talked with her children and husband, and her father was always busy earning another million. In addition, he spent most of his time in Europe, away from his family. However, Peggy's memories of her parental family are different … In one of the interviews, she said that she adored her parents and that she had completely preserved her childhoodNice memories. When she was 13 years old, a misfortune happened: the father of the family, along with his secretary, ended up on the wrecked Titanic. According to family legend, Mr. Benjamin gave up his place on the lifeboat and stayed on the ship, helping the women and children until the last second. From that day on, her father became a real hero for Peggy, and she kept a bright memory of him until the end of her days.
The Path to Art
This family misfortune changed the girl's life overnight. She became the heiress of her father's millionth fortune. However, in order to enter into the right of inheritance, she had to wait until the age of majority. Prior to that, she was in the care of her uncle Solomon Guggenheim - the richest man, a major entrepreneur, a great connoisseur and patron of the arts. Despite the untold we alth of her uncle, the girl felt like a poor relative in his house and did not enjoy the special love and disposition of her cousins. For some time she worked in a bookstore that exhibited the works of avant-garde writers, and here she met the progressive minds of her time.
Paris, Paris
After Peggy Guggenheim came of age and inherited her father's $2,500,000 fortune, she traveled from New York to Paris, the capital of the arts. Here the young woman finds herself in the midst of the Roaring Twenties. Paris in the 1920s was the focus of progressive and talented artists: writers, musicians, and artists. BeforeAs a we althy heiress, of course, the doors of all secular boudoirs where the beau monde gathers are open. Every day, the circle of her friends and acquaintances is expanding: Natalie Barney, Mae Ray, Juna Barnes, Romaine Brooks - and this is an incomplete list of celebrities with whom she surrounded herself. Life next to her uncle - a great connoisseur of fine arts - contributed to the development of a refined taste in her. Peggy Guggenheim visits various exhibitions, gets acquainted with surrealist artists, patronizes them, produces films, lights up the creation of her own gallery and for this purpose begins to buy paintings.
Creating a collection
She decides to invest the capital left to her by her father in painting. And Marcel Duchamp, a well-known American artist and art theorist, helps her in this. Following his advice, she is engaged in the acquisition of works not by recognized, but by emerging artists. It soon turns out that the girl has a rare talent - intuition, which helps her in choosing promising jobs. Thus, the Peggy Guggenheim collection begins to replenish with paintings by artists who are destined for recognition in the future. Here are some of them: Kandinsky, Dali, Picasso, Tanguy, Cocteau, Pollock, etc. Naturally, works purchased for nothing begin to grow in price, multiplying the fortune of Peggy Guggenheim. On the other hand, some artists owe their recognition in the art world to a we althy American woman who diligently promoted their work. Under her patronage, they leadcarefree life, spend her money, well, and try in every possible way to please her. In return, she organizes their exhibitions, finds we althy clients willing to buy paintings.
Galleries
In 1938, the first Guggenheim Jeune exhibition founded by P. Guggenheim in London on Cork Street presented paintings by Jean Cocteau and was a great success. And after the outbreak of World War II, Peggy bought up most of the works of this surrealist and abstract artist, decorating her impressive collection with them. Here, in the London gallery, she exhibited the works of the young Polish artist Kandinsky, and then Yves Tanguy. In the early 40s, Peggy was thinking about creating a gallery in the French capital and even rented space for this. However, the invasion of the fascist army prevented the implementation of her plan, she was forced to leave Paris and go first to the south of France, and from there to her homeland, to New York. Here she opens the Art of This Century gallery, which soon becomes one of the most fashionable and original showrooms in the American capital of art.
Museum
Until 1946, she traveled between Europe and America in search of worthy paintings for her collection, which grows day by day and replenishes with magnificent masterpieces. Her ultimate goal is to create her own Peggy Guggenheim Museum. For the next three years, she, along with her collection, participates in various exhibitions both in the States and in Europe. And in the early 50s, she came to the Biennale in Venice. Certainly,she has been here before, but right now she realizes that the time has come to fulfill her long-standing dream - to establish a museum that will belong only to her, the famous Peggy Guggenheim! Venice, in her opinion, is the best place for this. She buys a wonderful snow-white palace right on the bank of the canal, transports her collection of paintings and other rarities here, and decorates everything to her liking. Here she decides to settle down and spend the rest of her life.
As described by contemporaries of Peggy (Margaret) Guggenheim
Young, eccentric, extravagant and smart, purposeful and assertive, not beautiful, but pretty. The central figure on her face was an impressive nose - a family trait that did not really spoil her. Nevertheless, she somehow decided to resort to the help of a scalpel, but at the last moment, already on the operating table, she abandoned the idea. Her friends believe that if she lost her nose, she would lose her family scent - the ability to smell money, increase it and spend it wisely.
Private life
Naturally, the heiress of the American millionaire Peggy Guggenheim, whose autobiography was published in the book Out of this century: confessions of an art addict, was considered an enviable bride on the threshold of her adulthood. She had many admirers from we althy families, but her choice fell on Laurence Weil, half-American, half-French, half-writer, half-artist. It was with him that Peggy first went to conquerParis. She later wrote that this marriage was her tragic mistake. Or rather, so thought her family, which could not even imagine how you can live on $ 100 a month. However, at first, the rich heiress was simply fascinated by her husband, who introduced her to the French beau monde and all the sights of the capital and its suburbs. The marriage lasted 7 years and gave her two children - Sinbad and Peggin. Weil constantly cheated on his wife at her own expense. However, he realized that their fortune did not belong to him, but to her, and he hated Peggy, her family, her money. He constantly rolled up public scenes, showdowns with loud smashing of dishes, throwing various objects out of windows, especially her shoes and handbags. Peggy knew she couldn't go on like this for long. And then she hired a lawyer and soon divorced, although she did not break off friendly relations with him, and also continued to pay his bills. Weil was Peggy Guggenheim's first serious love. She kept his photo in her purse for a long time. In addition, she understood that it was the connection with Weil that opened the doors to the world of the Parisian beau monde for her.
P. Guggenheim Men
The second time she married writer Johnny Holmes. He was a great intellectual, but he did not know how to earn money at all. But he spent the funds of his rich and noble wife with great enthusiasm. Peggy was not married to Marcel Duchamp, but they also had a love relationship, besides, she considers him to be her guide to the world of art, her mentor in life and the best consultant. Waswhether the artist Yves Tanguy is Peggy's lover is hard to say, but thanks to her he gained fame. Then there were Samuel Beckett - writer, future Nobel laureate, Herbert Reed - Knight of the Garter. Margaret Guggenheim married Max Ernst for the third time. He was a great artist of his time, as well as an amazing lover and ladies' man. Peggy took him with her from occupied Paris to New York. Soon his paintings adorned the collection of his legal wife. Peggy was called the guardian angel of the avant-garde and surrealists. As you can see, all the men of the great gallery owner were talented individuals who had a mutually beneficial relationship with her: they were attracted by Peggy's we alth, and she was attracted by their creativity.
Film “Peggy Guggenheim: A Day Without Art”
Since 1948, the famous gallery owner settled on the Adriatic coast, in magnificent Venice. Despite the fact that in her youth Peggy felt like a poor relative in the family, she later became the most famous representative of the Guggenheim family. In Venice, she lived in her own palace, kept a retinue, owned a gondola and took a daily walk through the canals, accompanied by a retinue dressed in turquoise. This is how she was remembered in a fairy-tale city. She herself looked very extravagant, her images were always original. She loved to wear African-style dresses and accessories: lots of feathers, extraordinary headdresses, massive necklaces. She was certainly one of the most prominent women of her time, and here in 2015talented director
Lisa Immordino Vreeland shot a feature film about Peggy Guggenheim. The film tells about her life, about her amazing intuition, which contributed to her formation, and of course, about her men, whom she "collected" just like the paintings.
