Peggy Guggenheim: The Shock of the Modern

by Francine Prose

Overview

A spirited portrait of the colorful, irrepressible, and iconoclastic American collector who fearlessly advanced the cause of modern art

One of twentieth-century America’s most influential patrons of the arts, Peggy Guggenheim (1898–1979) brought to wide public attention the work of such modern masters as Jackson Pollock and Man Ray. In her time, there was no stronger advocate for the groundbreaking and the avant-garde. Her midtown gallery was the acknowledged center of the postwar New York art scene, and her museum on the Grand Canal in Venice remains one of the world’s great collections of modern art. Yet as renowned as she was for the art and artists she so tirelessly championed, Guggenheim was equally famous for her unconventional personal life, and for her ironic, playful desire to shock.
 
Acclaimed best-selling author Francine Prose offers a singular reading of Guggenheim’s life that will enthrall enthusiasts of twentieth-century art, as well as anyone interested in American and European culture and the interrelationships between them. The lively and insightful narrative follows Guggenheim through virtually every aspect of her extraordinary life, from her unique collecting habits and paradigm-changing discoveries, to her celebrity friendships, failed marriages, and scandalous affairs, and Prose delivers a colorful portrait of a defiantly uncompromising woman who maintained a powerful upper hand in a male-dominated world. Prose also explores the ways in which Guggenheim’s image was filtered through the lens of insidious antisemitism.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780300224290
Publisher:	Yale University Press
Publication date:	11/22/2016
Series:	Jewish Lives
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.20(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

New York Times best-selling author and National Book Award finalist Francine Prose has written more than twenty works of fiction and nonfiction, including Caravaggio and Reading Like a Writer.

Hometown:

New York, New York

Date of Birth:

April 1, 1947

Place of Birth:

Brooklyn, New York

Education:

B.A., Radcliffe College, 1968

Table of Contents

The Angel of the City 1

Out of This Century 4

June 1941 16

Her Money 36

Her Nose 52

Education 56

Hayford Hall 75

Guggenheim Jeune 89

Paris Before the War 109

New York 122

Art of This Century 134

Pollock 150

Venice 161

Pegeen 174

A Death in Venice 185

A Note on Sources 193

Bibliography 196

Credits 201

Index 203

Editorial Reviews

An extraordinary study of an extraordinary woman’s life, by a truly gifted writer. While Detailing Guggenheim’s incredible, unique contribution as a patron of the arts, Prose presents her as both glamourous and fragile.”—Padma Lakshmi, The Week

The Week - Padma Lakshmi

"A whirlwind tour in a compact, peppy car through the tumultuous life of the most famous patron of modern art."—Prudence Peiffer, Artforum

"This excellent short biography appears in Yale’s 'Jewish Lives' series, and Prose is a subtle and attentive chronicler. . . "—Kathryn Hughes, Guardian

"By describing fairly the limits of her wealth, and the nous with which she spent it, Prose does justice to this great modern Maecenas."—Iona McLaren, Daily Telegraph

"Vibrant."—New Yorker

"This succinct biography of one of the last century’s greatest collectors is an elegantly written account of the difficult and controversial life of Peggy Guggenheim."—Marina Vaizey, Art Newspaper

"Lively, complex, and inclined to shock, Guggenheim (1898–1979), the modern art collector, emerges as the embodiment of the age in Prose’s judicious biography."—Publishers Weekly

"Prose skillfully blends the events of Guggenheim's experience with details about the 20th-century art scene, all in a vivid setting of time and place. Her depictions of key artists, family members, husbands, and others are distinctive in their complexity of character and contribute to a deeper understanding of the personal and professional facets of this enigmatic woman. . . . This finely researched and well-written work honestly examines the often disturbing world of an acclaimed figure."—Library Journal

"An adroit and lively portrait."—Kirkus Reviews

"This is a smart and entertaining book about the life of a woman who is difficult to get a handle on . . . Prose is subtle about the ins and outs of Guggenheim’s behavior As a novelist herself, she does not pass judgment but attempts to let us see the selfish, hurtful ( her daughter a suicide) but also generous manner in which Guggenheim literally swung her way through life."—Svetlana Alpers, Key Reporter

"With fresh insights and illuminating details, Prose vividly tells the poignant and remarkable story of this complex, combative, and passionate art champion and innovator, who weathered misogyny, anti-Semitism, betrayal, and her own demons to help build an audience for modern art."—Donna Seaman, Booklist

"Prose has in an accessible and interesting fashion drawn our attention to Peggy Guggenheim’s independence, brilliance, and willing[ness] to put herself out there for the cause in a world dominated by both anti-Semitism . . . and male chauvinism."—Robert F. Barsky, AmeriQuests

"Prose . . . is determined not to miss either the strangeness or the marvelousness of her subject. Guggenheim, that 'intelligent, determined woman,' will no longer be quite so easily dismissed after Prose’s incisive book. Unlucky in so much else, Peggy Guggenheim is certainly fortunate in her generous and bighearted biographer."—Christopher Benfey, New York Review of Books

In 2014 the Jewish Book Council awarded the Jewish Book of the Year honor to the Jewish Lives series—the first time in its history that a series was so honored—in recognition of its achievements thus far and its forthcoming contributions for years to come.

From the Publisher

Prose has in an accessible and interesting fashion drawn our attention to Peggy Guggenheim’s independence, brilliance, and willing[ness] to put herself out there for the cause in a world dominated by both anti-Semitism . . . and male chauvinism.”—Robert F. Barsky, AmeriQuests

AmeriQuests - Robert F. Barsky

This succinct biography of one of the last century’s greatest collectors is an elegantly written account of the difficult and controversial life of Peggy Guggenheim”—Marina Vaizey, Art Newspaper

Art Newspaper - Marina Vaizey

"Vibrant."—New Yorker

New Yorker

By describing fairly the limits of her wealth, and the nous with which she spent it, Prose does justice to this great modern Maecenas.”—Iona McLaren, Daily Telegraph

Daily Telegraph - Iona McLaren

Prose situates Guggenheim right in the middle of the Modernist, as a new kind of woman who is hard to define, and in that she is a perfect product and reflection of her age, never less than fascinating. Without her, modern art would be much the poorer.”—Lesley McDowell, Independent on Sunday

Independent on Sunday - Lesley McDowell

This excellent short biography appears in Yale’s “Jewish Lives” series, and Prose is a subtle and attentive chronicler…”—Kathryn Hughes, Guardian

The Guardian - Kathryn Hughes

"With fresh insights and illuminating details, Prose vividly tells the poignant and remarkable story of this complex, combative, and passionate art champion and innovator, who weathered misogyny, anti-Semitism, betrayal, and her own demons to help build an audience for modern art."—Donna Seaman, Booklist

Booklist - Donna Seaman

This is a smart and entertaining book about the life of a woman who is difficult to get a handle on . . . Prose is subtle about the ins and outs of Guggenheim’s behavior As a novelist herself, she does not pass judgment but attempts to let us see the selfish, hurtful ( her daughter a suicide) but also generous manner in which Guggenheim literally swung her way through life.”—Svetlana Alpers, Key Reporter

Key Reporter - Svetlana Alpers

Prose . . . is determined not to miss either the strangeness or the marvelousness of her subject. Guggenheim, that ‘intelligent, determined woman,’ will no longer be quite so easily dismissed after Prose’s incisive book. Unlucky in so much else, Peggy Guggenheim is certainly fortunate in her generous and bighearted biographer.”—Christopher Benfey, New York Review of Books

New York Review of Books - Christopher Benfey

A whirlwind tour in a compact, peppy car through the tumultuous life of the most famous patron of modern art.”—Prudence Peiffer, Artforum

Artforum - Prudence Peiffer

2015-06-28
The latest in the Jewish Lives series focuses on a flamboyant champion of modern art. Art patron Peggy Guggenheim (1898-1979) was notable as much for her scandalous personal life as for her discerning aesthetic sense. In this deftly distilled biography, Prose (Lovers at the Chameleon Club, Paris 1932, 2014, etc.) draws on Guggenheim's memoir, several biographies, and works by and about her wide circle of friends, offering a cleareyed assessment of the complicated woman and her indelible contribution to modern art. Guggenheim's Jewishness is handily dispatched. Subjected to anti-Semitism when she was turned away from a hotel, she claimed that her "inferiority complex" stemmed from her appearance rather than prejudice: specifically, her nose, which she hated and believed was an inheritance from her German ancestors. Convinced she was homely, she nevertheless "boasted of having had more than four hundred lovers," including artists Max Ernst and Yves Tanguy, and James Joyce's son Giorgio. For a woman of independent wealth and strong will, Guggenheim made surprising choices in men. "She lived in an era and a milieu," writes Prose, "in which women needed men to explain the world to them….Without a man to direct her, without the rewards of male attention…a woman was…a failed human being." Yet seeking a man's validation still does not explain why she endured a violent marriage to Laurence Vail, who beat her; nor to the drunken John Holms, "a writer who didn't write," who demeaned her; nor to Ernst, who married her, friends thought, for her money and connections. Prose notes Guggenheim's "lack of empathy" toward her lovers, their wives, and especially her children, a flaw more egregious than "promiscuity, shallowness, stinginess, and a sense of humor that sometimes crossed over into malice." The author also chronicles her groundbreaking galleries: Guggenheim Jeune in London; the exuberant Art of This Century in Manhattan; and her Palazzo in Venice, where her collection still resides. An adroit and lively portrait.

Kirkus Reviews