Findings
Return of the FindingsFebruary 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 Finding 69: Guggenheim Museum ArchivesJuly 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 CourtJune 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 MinorJune 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 WorkJune 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 |
Poster for Rudolf Bauer's Das Geistreich, circa 1930. Series 3. Rudolf Bauer: Personal: Das Geistreich. Hilla Rebay records. A0010. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum Archives, New York Finding 65: Poster for Rudolf Bauer's Das Geistreich, circa 1930June 7, 2011 This small poster advertises Rudolf Bauer's gallery/museum, Das Geistreich (the Realm of the Spirit), which opened in 1930 in the Charlottenberg section of Berlin. Das Geistreich displayed paintings by Bauer himself as well as those by Vassily Kandinsky, and to a lesser extent, Hilla Rebay. On the back of this poster, an inscription from Bauer sends celebratory wishes for the New Year and his greetings to Solomon and Irene Guggenheim. Bauer met Mr. Guggenheim through Hilla Rebay and played a key role in helping him form his collection of non-objective painting. In 1939, the same year that the Museum of Non-Objective Painting opened to the public, Bauer emigrated from Nazi Germany and settled in Deal, New Jersey. In addition to having his work included in the museum's inaugural exhibition, The Art of Tomorrow, his painting, Invention (1933) was reproduced on the catalogue's cover. -Amanda Brown, Archives Assistant |
Letter from Roger Tilton to Hilla Rebay, 1950. Box 3033. Series 2: Administration: Correspondence: T General. Hilla Rebay records. A0010. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum Archives, New York Finding 64: Exploring Light: Letter from Roger Tilton to Hilla RebayMay 31, 2011 In 1950, Roger Tilton wrote a letter to Hilla Rebay explaining his exploration of light "as a practical medium for aesthetic expression." Working at the University of Iowa, Tilton explains, he had been exploring light murals as architectural decoration, the three-dimensional qualities of light as sculpture, and experimenting with light and sound on film. The two photographs glued to the bottom of the first page of his letter and the top left image on the second show Tilton's light murals installed in the Art Department Building at the University of Iowa, while the top right image on the second page is an example of Tilton's light sculpture. He concludes his letter by expressing a wish to show his work to Rebay or for references to others who might have an interest in it. Rebay, who often corresponded with artists and always shared her honest opinions, replied to Tilton saying that the museum only displays painting and is not pursuing light research "other than what we have been developing in the last eight years, and which seems to me is going far beyond what has been developed anywhere else in avoiding accidental effects of decorations. We are only interested, of course, in Art." The research which Rebay refers to includes the work of Charles Dockum (highlighted in Finding 40) and the film center, funded by the Guggenheim Foundation. In addition to providing the contact information for Dwinell Grant, an artist and experimental filmmaker and another fellowship recipient, Rebay recommends the books of Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, a forerunner of explorations with light, and suggests Tilton contact the School of Design in Chicago. She also offers to further explain and discuss non-objectivity with Tilton later that year. -Shirin Khaki, Archives Assistant |
Brochure for Al's Grand Hotel, 1971. 308: Nine Artists: Theodoron Awards. Exhibition files. A0003. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum Archives, New York Finding 63: Brochure for Al's Grand Hotel, 1971May 23, 2011 In conducting research for the 1977 Guggenheim Museum exhibition, Nine Artists: Theodoron Awards, curator Linda Shearer collected printed ephemera, artists' books, and small catalogues pertaining to the artists she included in the show. One of these items, a brochure for Allen Ruppersberg's Al's Grand Hotel (1971), is featured here. Part installation work and part performance piece, Al's Grand Hotel was situated on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles and remained open for six weeks during the spring of 1971. Visitors could make advance reservations to spend the night in such rooms as the Jesus Room or Ultra Violet Room, or just stop by to tour the space and have a drink in the hotel bar. One could also purchase items from the installation, including the life-sized cardboard figures from the Al Room pictured in the top right of this brochure. -Amanda Brown, Archives Assistant |
Photograph of Robert Motherwell during the installation of his exhibition, 1984 and installation diagram, 1985. 441: Robert Motherwell. Exhibition files. A0003. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum Archives, New York. Art © Dedalus Foundation, Inc./Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY Finding 62: Robert Motherwell Supervising the Installation of his ExhibitionMay 16, 2011 A retrospective exhibition of the Abstract Expressionist painter Robert Motherwell was shown at the Guggenheim Museum from December 7, 1984 to February 3, 1985. It was the sixth and last stop for the exhibition, which toured throughout the country beginning in October of 1983 at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, the organizing institution for the exhibition. The show included about 150 paintings, drawings, mixed-media works, and prints executed between 1941 and 1984. The artist and then Museum Deputy Director Diane Waldman chose approximately 60 of the 150 exhibited works specifically for the Guggenheim showing of the retrospective. Most of these works came from the artist's collection and had never been exhibited before. The photograph shows the artist and Waldman during the exhibition's installation in the High Gallery, where most of these additional works were installed. A diagram of the gallery's south wall, which accompanies the exhibition wall list, matches the configuration of paintings seen in the photograph. -Shirin Khaki, Archives Assistant |