Education
Information, Inc. Newsletter, 1960. New York: The American Artists
Professional League, 1960. Collection on Arts Organizations. A0014.
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum Archives, New York
Finding 73: Anti-Communism in an Art Newsletter
May 3, 2012
During
the second half of the 20th century, the art world was rife with
political controversy surrounding the spread of Communism. Rampant fear
of anything construed as un-American resulted in an adverse reaction to
modern art among conservative artist circles. In 1960, the American
Artists Professional League distributed a newsletter founded by
Education Information, Inc. to disseminate writings by American artists,
such as Wheeler Williams and E. Merrill Root, who sought to fight the
penetration of Communist ideology into American culture. This special
issue of the publication was written on the subversion of art in modern
times.
—Caroline LeFevre, Archives Intern
|
Letter from Joan Miró, top, and the ceramic mural Night and Day (1957–59). Guggenheim International Award, 1956. Exhibition records. A0003. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum Archives, New York
April 10, 2012
In 1959, Joan Miró's ceramic mural Night and Day
won the 1958 Guggenheim International Award (GIA). Established in 1956
as both a recognition of outstanding achievements in the visual arts and
an important manifestation of international goodwill, the GIA
functioned as a global art competition that awarded $10,000 to an artist
whose painting was selected by an international jury and subsequently
approved by the Guggenheim Foundation. In this letter, Miró writes to
James Johnson Sweeney, second director of the Guggenheim Museum,
thanking him for the award. The final GIA was awarded in 1964, after
which funds were reallocated to acquiring works from exhibitions for the
collection.
—Francine Snyder, Director of Library and Archives |
Solomon
R. and Irene Guggenheim’s apartment in the Plaza Hotel, New York, circa
1937. Hillla von Rebay Foundation Archives. M0007. Solomon R.
Guggenheim Museum Archives, New York
March 19, 2012
Throughout
the 1930s and early 1940s, Solomon R. and Irene Guggenheim maintained
several suites at the Plaza Hotel as their New York City residence.
Already actively collecting nonobjective artwork, Solomon Guggenheim
decided to open select areas of the apartment to the public for art
viewings. The by-appointment viewings showcased artworks from his
private collection, now know as the Solomon R. Guggenheim Founding Collection.
Hilla
Rebay, who would later be named the first director of the Museum of
Non-Objective Painting, was instrumental in the selection and display of
the artwork in the apartment. In addition, starting in 1939 and lasting
until the early 1940s, Rebay invited artists to the apartment for "artists' tea," a forum in which Rebay would critique artists' current work, and for lectures on nonobjectivity.
—Francine Snyder, Director of Library and Archives |
Installation view: Constantin Brancusi, Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1955, first floor, third
and forth room, looking east, with Torso
of a Young Man, The Miracle, Caryatid, and White Seal. © Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, NY. Reference copy in Constantin Brancusi. Exhibition
records. A0003. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum Archives, New York
February 23, 2012
On Wednesday, October 26, 1955, the first
major museum exhibition of Constantin Brancusi opened at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. The exhibition, held at
the 1071 Fifth Avenue town house, consisted of 59 sculptures and 10 drawings
and gouaches. Seven of the works, including White
Seal, came from Brancusi's studio in Paris, and many had never previously
been shown in the United States.
In the press release, then-director James Johnson Sweeney described "the
importance of such a comprehensive exhibition of the sculptor's work to
a just appreciation of Brancusi's genius. Only such a cross-section of
his art can bring out the full justice the variety of work,
his dedicated love of materials—wood, stone, metal—and his simple, direct—yet
subtly imaginative—interpretation of them."
Although never
published, the exhibition records include extensive research and planning for
an exhibition catalogue. Found within these files is a rare installation view
of Brancusi's work at the Arts Club of Chicago in 1927.
—Francine Snyder, Director of Library and Archives |
Return of the Findings
February 21, 2012
When
we completed the grant last June, our Findings postings also came to an
end. Since the processing (the arranging and describing) of the grant
collections was complete and we were no longer actively working with
each collection, we did not think we would continue to be regularly "finding" new objects of interest.
Boy,
oh boy, were we wrong. We're continually reviewing our collections:
researching for curators, answering public inquiries, fact-checking for
the press office. . . Findings galore!
Announcing
the return of the Findings Blog, newly expanded to include objects of
interest throughout all the collections in the Museum Archives. We hope
you enjoy them as much as we do.
|
Newly processed exhibition records. A0003. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum Archives, New York
July 6, 2011
Thursday,
June 30th, was the last day of the NHPRC grant-funded project Solomon
R. Guggenheim Museum, the First Fifty Years. Once a week throughout the
project, the staff highlighted a finding, an object of interest found in
the collections. Sixty-nine findings later, we've highlighted records
within these collections that contain previously unseen documentation of
Guggenheim directors' and curators' contributions to the development of
modern and contemporary art. At the same time, the findings showcased
records with broader appeal, such as visually striking artist correspondence, a quirky booklet of cartoons produced by the Turkish Information Office, a contact sheet documenting museum staff setting up shop in the Frank Lloyd Wright–designed building, and a sketch of the Connecticut residence of the museum's first director, Hilla Rebay.
View all findings, and learn more about the museum archives. |
Sketch
and Photograph of Trillora Court Bedroom, circa 1940. Series 2.
Administration: Buildings: Trillora Court. Hilla Rebay records. A0010.
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum Archives, New York
Finding 68: Solomon R. Guggenheim's Bedroom at Trillora Court
June 29, 2011
In addition to advising Solomon R. Guggenheim on collecting works of art, Hilla Rebay also helped him redecorate his bedroom at Trillora Court, the home on Long Island he shared with his wife Irene. Rebay's records contain a hand-drawn floor plan of the bedroom, fabric samples for the curtains, and correspondence and estimates pertaining to carpeting, lighting, and furnishings. Also contained within her records are photographs and a sketch of the bedroom. In the sketch, we get a glimpse of Rebay's initial vision for the interior, while in the photograph, we see the final outcome of her work. Hanging about the bed in a wide frame is Two Purple Balls (1938) by Rudolf Bauer, a favorite artist of both Rebay and Guggenheim.
–Amanda Brown, Archives Assistant |
Series 2. Administration: Film: Filmmakers: Grant, Dwinell. Hilla Rebay records. A0010. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum Archives, New York
Finding 67: Dwinell Grant Film Score for Uncompleted Composition in 4 Minor
June 22, 2011
Hilla Rebay championed the work of numerous experimental filmmakers, and nonobjective film played a critical role in her vision for the Museum of Non-Objective Painting. Her records contain correspondence with the likes of Oskar Fischinger, Dwinell Grant, Norman McLaren, and Harry Smith. Additionally, the records contain original film scores and color studies created by Grant. In the film score pictured here, Grant maps out the animation sequence and the rhythm of color and light for one of his films. The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation awarded Grant a scholarship in 1944 for the purpose of writing a book on nonobjective film and producing a "three-dimensional nonobjective film, in color, of symphonic dimensions," although neither the book nor the film was completed. In a 1945 letter to Rebay, Grant warned "No one has ever done a nonobjective film of such dimensions before and it cannot be forced, nor can it be done in a month."
–Amanda Brown, Archives Assistant |
Eva Hesse exhibition at Fischbach Gallery, photograph by John A. Ferrari, 1968 and Eva Hesse exhibition at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 1972. Box 1170. Series 3: Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum: 261: Eva Hesse. Exhibition records. A0003. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum Archives, New York
Finding 66: Installation Photographs of Eva Hesse's Work
June 14, 2011
The Guggenheim Museum held Eva Hesse: A Memorial Exhibition from December 7, 1972 to February 11, 1973, two and a half years after the artist's untimely death in 1970 at the age of 34. Curated by Linda Shearer, the exhibition featured about 80 works from Hesse's brief, but productive career. In conjunction with the exhibition the Guggenheim Museum published an illustrated catalogue, which featured photographs of Hesse's work as installed in exhibitions at the Fischbach Gallery. The Exhibition records contain photographs gathered for research and the production of the exhibition catalogue, including installation images which were not published in the catalogue. The top photograph is one such unpublished image; it shows drawings for Accession (1967) and several small works as displayed in Hesse's one-woman show at the Fischbach Gallery in November of 1968. The bottom image shows an installation view of the Guggenheim Museum exhibition. The 1968 model for Augment can be seen in both images, third from left in the Fischbach Gallery installation and on the far left in the display case at the Guggenheim Museum.
-Shirin Khaki, Archives Assistant |
Page 1 of 9 << < Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Next > >>
| 
