Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
|
Related e |
|
Featured: |
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation is a nonprofit corporation founded in 1937 by philanthropist Solomon R. Guggenheim and artist Hilla von Rebay. The first museum established by the foundation was the Museum of Non-Objective Art" which was housed in rented space on Park Avenue in New York. Since then, its accomplishment has been the establishment of a global network of museums:
- The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, in New York
- The Peggy Guggenheim Collection, in Venice
- The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, in Bilbao
- Deutsche Guggenheim Berlin, in Berlin (built in cooperation with the Deutsche Bank)
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York––the first permanent museum to be built––is sometimes called simply "the Guggenheim". Beginning with the Guggenheim Museum in New York, a modern spiral building (designed by Frank Lloyd Wright), the tradition of hiring prominent architects for its museum designs has continued with the Guggenheim Bilbao (designed by Frank Gehry) and the Guggenheim Las Vegas (designed by Rem Koolhaas). The Guggenheim Foundation developed a reputation for hiring major architects and building bold designs. In fact, some claim (or complain) that the Guggenheim buildings are more famous than the art works on display inside them.
The museums exhibit primarily "high" modern and postmodern art, but some branches have also exhibited commercial art. For example, the Solomon R. Guggenheim has shown exhibitions of Giorgio Armani suits and motorcycles; the latter exhibition was later moved to semi-permanent display at the Guggenheim Las Vegas.
