What I Bought Myself in SeattleIn the meantime, I'd like to share with you the recent addition to my art library:
Peggy Guggenheim & Frederick Kiesler, The Story of Art of This Century, by Davidson, Rylands, editors. Link. AOTC was the famous gallery that Peggy Guggenheim established in the Forties and where she was instrumental in launching the careers of many (if not all) of our Abstract Expressionists. Kiesler was the architect of the far out gallery space that became a hang-out for the avant-garde of the art world.
I had the strange experience of (unknowingly) visiting the location of the famous gallery at 20 West 57th Street in NYC. The actual place (Washburn Gallery ?) is a story or two above the Ameringer-Yohe Gallery, where I went to pay hommage to Wolf Kahn's pastels. During the same trip I bought a book at the MoMa that identified the location's place in history, and I thought about the serendipity of my chance visit.
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Casey - When you come to visit me in Tuscany, you have to go to the Peggy Guggenheim Museum on the Grand Canal. I've read a few biographies on this lady who was so blessed with resources and an amazing instinct for talent - it's hard to love her all the time but one has to be in awe of her place in the history of modern art.
I understand that the Venice Museum is the repository for whatever art she bought during that period, minus some attrition due to trade-outs, sales, outright destruction or theft.
The Wiki bio has her as not terribly rich - the poor woman.
Do you know the back door to Venice?
Visting your blog always inspires me to learn new things. You always have something about a book that gives wonderful information to others. Thanks!
*HUGS*
No problem, Angela!
The weird thing about the Guggenheim on the Grand Canal is that it looks so different to everything else - a long wall with a door in the middle
So are you moving from Kahn to Rothko - or just adding to the idols?
Have you ever looked at the Scottish Colourists?
KT:
I have looked at the Scot's Colourists, but just a little.
Wait til you see what I have next for Rothko. Too good to publish on a weekend.
Kahn always has had a great deal of Rothko in his work. Think of color fields when you look at him. I had a fellow come into my booth at Edmonds and look at my landscapes and say: "we have all learned a lot from Rothko, haven't we?"
Too bad Peggy G. couldn't afford anything better than on the Grand canal. But seriously, to risk completely new architecture like that is very telling. The word "courage" comes to mind.
Back door - Front door, I'm afraid they charge at every door in Venice, Casey. If you are happy to sleep in doorways and not eat - the most beautiful things are absolutely free! I read somewhere that beauty is enhanced by starvation - I think it's when one starts to hallucinate.
Unsavory Content to Follow:
I heard, when I was in Italy last year, that in Venice there were outdoor urinals throughout the city. Men could just "go" at will, right in front of God and everyone.
Now, if you understand that I had just had a bladder operation, and that I was in incredible pain on my trip (I couldn't cancel this once-in-a-lifetime chance to go to Italy with the 10th Mountain Division veterans), you can maybe see why I thought that Venice was as close to my Shangri-la as there could ever be!
I called my wife and told her to pack up the kids, and that we were moving to Venice. She was unamused when I told her the reason...(jealousy is so base)
Hey! Robyn brought up the homeless ! I'm just free associating here!
Maybe I wasn't desperate to "go", but on neither of my trips to Venice (the last in 2006) did I see the urinals which so attracted you.
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