Collection Overview

Initially commissioned to paint a portrait of Solomon R. Guggenheim (SRG) in 1927, Hilla Rebay (HR) struck up a friendship with him that endured until his death. Following HR's guidance, the art collection of SRG increased substantially. This partnership led to the birth of the Museum of Non-Objective Painting in 1939. Located at 24 East 54th Street in a rented space transformed by HR and architect William Muschenheim, only the purest examples of non-objective art were exhibited. HR commenced a campaign in 1943 to construct a building to serve as home and monument to the art collection accrued by SRG. In 1943, Frank Lloyd Wright (FLW) accepted the commission to create new accommodations for the growing collection. From 1957 to 1956, the collection temporarily resided in a six story mansion on a plot of land purchased by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation (SRGF) between East 88th and East 89th Streets on Fifth Avenue. It was relocated once more to a townhouse on 7 East 72nd Street before the final move to the completed building. Neither FLW nor SRG would live to see the finished museum. Following SRG's death in 1949, the name of the museum was officially changed to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (SRGM). In 1952, HR resigned as the director of the museum. She was succeeded by James Johnson Sweeney (JJS), former director of the Department of Painting and Sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art.

October 21, 1959, the construction was completed and the SRGM opened to the public. The following year JJS resigned. The third director, Thomas M. Messer (TMM), was selected in 1961. During his tenure, he increased the exhibition and publishing activities of the museum, as well as continued his predecessor's labors to modernize and professionalize the administrative organization and museum staff. The SRGF received a sizable accretion in 1963 when a portion of Justin K. Thannhauser's collection of Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, and Modern French masterpieces were permanently loaned to the museum.

In response to spatial limitation for exhibitions and staff, Gwathmey Siegel & Associates Architects were commissioned in 1982 to design a solution. They planned to replace the existing small rotunda designed by Wright's son-in-law, William Wesley Peters, with tower that had been a part of FLW's plans for the museum in the 1940s. TMM resigned in 1988 before the expansion project could be finished. His successor, Thomas Krens (TK) continued his mission of expansion and renovation of the museum. While preparations for construction developed, New York City's Landmark Preservation Commission awarded the FLW building landmark status in 1989.

1992 witnessed the reopening of the SRGM after the completion of the expansion and restoration work and the opening of the Guggenheim Soho building, no longer operational. TK endeavored to give the museum an international presence by opening branches in Berlin and Bilbao. From 2005 through 2007, Lisa Dennison (LD) served as the director of the SRGM, while TK continued in the role of director of the SRGF. LD worked toward local recognition of the museum as a New York cultural resource and international development of the museum's goals. TK briefly resumed the director position following LD's departure until his resignation in February 2008. As of 2009, TK works with the SRGF as the Senior Advisor for International Affairs. Richard Armstrong, former Director of the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, became director of SRGM and SRGF in 2008. In 2013, the Frank Gehry designed Abu Dhabi Guggenheim Museum, developed under the guidance of TK, will open.

Scope and Content Note

Folder List