Page 51 - Studio International - February 1965

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The vast, stunning oils that have become the hall­
marks of Abstract Expressionism first won critical
attention when they were exhibited at Peggy Guggen­
heim's 'Art of This Century Gallery' in 1943 and 1944.
'Art of This Century·. with its interiors by Frederick
Kiesler. was unashamedly vanguard and as a result
controversial. While it provoked anger from the con­
servative and mirth from the sceptical. the gallery was
incontrovertibly there. a rendezvous for intellectuals and
a showcase for the new. With Miss Guggenheim's
remarkable collection as the nucleus of its early
exhibitions. 'Art of This Century' soon proved itself
sympathetic to new directions in American painting and
sculpture. Pollock. Still. and Motherwell. unknowns
all. found themselves in the company of Picasso.
Leger. Braque, and Mir6. A projected mural to be
undertaken co-operatively by a half score of New
York's most iconoclastic young painters never came
to pass and it is probably all to the good that it did not.
Nonetheless, it indicates the esprit of the time.
With the war's end Miss Guggenheim returned to her
bel'oved Venice and with her departure 'Art of This
Century' perished. But its point had been made. Betty
Parsons, Charles Egan, Samuel Kootz, and Sidney Janis
continued the tradition; European masters were by no
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