Architecture's Odd Couple by Hugh Howard

Author:Hugh Howard [Howard, Hugh]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781620403761
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2016-04-24T16:00:00+00:00

Solomon R. Guggenheim: businessman, philanthropist, and art collector. (Underwood Archives/Getty Images)

Yet these transformations were a consequence of more than one woman’s passion, an old-world title, and her skills as an artist. As Guggenheim himself soon explained, a lingering sense of rejection from his own youth predisposed him to his improbable shift.

Rebay traveled to Europe with the Guggenheims in 1929 and again in 1930. An artistic insider in the Old World, she easily gained entrée for her patrons to artists’ studios to buy fresh works for their rapidly growing collection of the new art. She wanted them to understand the rich creative culture, and one July evening in 1930, the Guggenheims dined at the home of Walter Gropius in Berlin.

Arriving overdressed for the occasion, the Guggenheims were a little taken aback at the unfamiliar Bauhaus furniture, all skeletal chrome tubes and strips of leather, a stark contrast to the traditional chair in Guggenheim’s portrait. Seeking to make her guests feel welcome, hostess Ise Gropius inquired of Mr. Guggenheim how he had become interested in modern painting. Rebay stood by, translating.

In English, Guggenheim explained that, as a young man, he had devised a new method of extracting copper. But his father, Meyer Guggenheim, had dismissed the idea. For the younger Guggenheim, the experience embodied a life lesson. As he explained to Mrs. Gropius, one should “never underestimate the works of those people who tried totally different methods.” Solomon Guggenheim translated the notion to the art he had begun to collect. It was totally new—and he wished to support it.10

By the time Frank Lloyd Wright first met Guggenheim in 1943, the Baroness von Rebay had invested the industrialist’s money well, collecting a remarkable array of contemporary art. For a time, its owner had contemplated a bequest to the Metropolitan Museum, but guided by Rebay, he had long since decided upon his own museum. Now he wanted a suitably unique building in which to house it.

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