Out of this Century

Fülszöveg

In 1921 Peggy Guggenheim, well-bred daugh-
ter of rich and prominent parents, came into her
fortune and was bored. She renounced the idea of
college and instead set out for Europe, never in-
tending to stay. As it turned out, she fell in with
the vanguard of the literary and art world, stayed
twenty years, and eventually became a major
patron and collector of modern art. Today, at 80,
an international celebrity, she lives in Venice in
a palazzo which houses her magnificent collection.
OUT OF THIS CENTURY is Peggy Guggen-
heim's own story of her flamboyant life and loves
—a life of wild, brawling parties and stormy rela-
tionships with Laurence Vail, Max Ernst, Jackson
Pollock, Samuel Beckett, and other famous writers
and artists. It is also the story of an important
period in art history, and of Mrs. Guggenheim's
undeniable influence on its course.
Here is an inside look at the bourgeois and
eccentric Guggenheim family, from a mother who
skimped on tips to an... Tovább

Fülszöveg

In 1921 Peggy Guggenheim, well-bred daugh-
ter of rich and prominent parents, came into her
fortune and was bored. She renounced the idea of
college and instead set out for Europe, never in-
tending to stay. As it turned out, she fell in with
the vanguard of the literary and art world, stayed
twenty years, and eventually became a major
patron and collector of modern art. Today, at 80,
an international celebrity, she lives in Venice in
a palazzo which houses her magnificent collection.
OUT OF THIS CENTURY is Peggy Guggen-
heim's own story of her flamboyant life and loves
—a life of wild, brawling parties and stormy rela-
tionships with Laurence Vail, Max Ernst, Jackson
Pollock, Samuel Beckett, and other famous writers
and artists. It is also the story of an important
period in art history, and of Mrs. Guggenheim's
undeniable influence on its course.
Here is an inside look at the bourgeois and
eccentric Guggenheim family, from a mother who
skimped on tips to an uncle who gave fur coats to
any woman who asked. Here too is a unique per-
spective on pre-war Europe, when Peggy, armed
with a 'shopping list" provided by Marcel Du-
champ, was able to buy valuable works at the rate
of one a day. We are taken behind the scenes at
Art of This Century, Peggy's renowned New York
gallery, where she actively promoted the Abstract
Expressionists: Pollock, Motherwell, Hans Hof-
mann, Rothko. Finally, this honorary citizen of
Venice describes her later years in that 'enchanted
city," and her continuing involvement with the
avant-garde in, for example, a trip to Japan with
John Cage and Yoko Ono.
Mrs. Guggenheim writes in a droll and reveal-
ing style. A single paragraph ranges from sweep-
ing statement to that perfect trivial detail, whether
it describes buying a piece of art or buying a new
hat. And always there is the sardonic touch, or,
(continued on back flap)
(continued from front flap)
as Vidal calls it, "the sudden swift side-long glance
that often accompanies her swift judgments/'
Although elements of this book have appeared
before, this integrated, revised, and extended pub-
lication identifies persons who were previously
given pseudonyms, features personal photographs
of Peggy Guggenheim's friends and lovers and of
remarkable pieces in her collection, and brings
Mrs. Guggenheim's story up to her eightieth
birthday, including her protracted war with the
museum that bears her family's name.
4 OUT OF THIS CENTURY is an outrageous
memoir—and an important cultural document.
Jacket design by Harry Chester Associates Vissza