Page 18 - Studio International - January 1965

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of modern art, where even the 'minor· of each movement
since cubism were included. But too often critics avoid
discussing the 'minor.' who represent the less con­
spicuous but necessary connections of a cultural struc­
ture made of contributions of a different value. in favour
of the 'major.' which negatively results in reducing
some phenomena to a sort of mythical competition of
the most outstanding individualities. in a critical scale.
which is not always ratified by history.
I intend to say that cubism. just to give an example.
assumes the aspects of Gleizes. Marcoussis. Metzinger
too. whom Peggy presented with some really remark­
able works. Perhaps it was more difficult for he1 to
document Italian Futurism. represented nevertheless by
Motor-car+ noise (1912) by Balla. Dancer= sea
(1913) by Severini and by that 'piece of sculpture'
(which would be more proper to term 'plastic') made of
wood and pasteboard, Dynamic construction of a gallop
-horse+house (1913-14) by Boccioni. This one is
a work recomposed on the outline of photos of the
time: a very significant endeavour to build moving
structural elements linked together to represent an
impetuous rush into space. The haunting rhythm of
movement or speed. that was the dominant motif of
futurist aestheticism. expresses itself in the visual
schemes elaborated by Balla and Severini on the con­
temporary researches of analytic and synthetical cubism
(for Severini the experience of Seurat's pointillisme is
worthy too) but with a certain independence given by
the different objects the two artistic movements had
in view. (One must compare the well-known Horse
(1914) by Duchamp Villon with that •piece of sculpture'
by Boccioni. the painting by Balla with Gris)
Futurism. notwithstanding its didactic importance and
the fruitful germs left in Europe between 1913 and 1914.
propitious to the formation and development of other
avant-garde movements. produced no work which
might be compared to those by Picasso and Braque
included in the Guggenheim collection. which more­
over very well documents Malevich's and El Lissitzky's
suprematism and Mondrian's. Van Doesburg's and
Vantongerloo's neo-plasticism.
Even for so active and attentive a mind as Peggy's it
is difficult to overstep the bounds imposed by the
historical taste and conscience. Therefore one gives up
a priori a dangerous experimentalism, the idea of an
avant-garde at any cost and her collection strictly keeps
its feature of a selection well defined in the time. To
constitute a document really useful for history, each
collection must be specialized, that is refer to a period
or a determined group or movement.
1 In Peggy's case a document becomes a lived reality, everlasting rebellion. There is a compliance even in
Alberto Giacometti
S1atua di donna acefa,a. 1932-1936 an expression of the collector's own life, as it results anarchy-a conformity to be refused. In 1948, in Italy,
Gesso. 148 cm. high from her books: Art of this century, Una collezionista Peggy found herself in an avant-garde position.
ricorda, Confessions of an art addict-precious state­ possessed of an exceptionally vital experience such as
2 ments indeed of someone who is not merely an the surrealistic one. At that time, in the terms of that
Giorgio de Chirico period, Peggy represented the most audacious abstrac­
Ritrauo d1 un poeta. 191 3 amateur.
89 x 40 cm. In these books recollections heap up, often without a tion, in contrast with the shy attempts of the Italian
chronological order, just in accordance with the whim artists, who once again turned their eyes to Paris, in
3 of imagination, as the adventures or events were search of suggestions.
Salvador Dali expe1ienced, with a sudden upsetting of situations, as In a country of classic education and of irreversible
La nascita d, desiden /1qwdi. 1932
95 x 112 cm. though she would prove the truth of the statement that traditions, Peggy's world looked whimsical, often
'la realite depasse la fiction.' ununderstandable, still exasperated by her unpre­
4 He who was formed in a definite intellectual environ­ judiced spirit, particularly as a writer. Freud taught her
Juan Gris ment and a definite time, in touch with a society which how to get rid of any complex and above all of shyness,
1887-1927 accepted the most audacious ideas of avant-garde art, which is both a hindrance and an impulse to the boldest
La botllg//a dt rhum def/a Martimca, notwithstanding the extreme freedom of his mind, confessions.
1914
Paper collage, 53 x 45 cm. sometimes finds it hard to proceed on the way of an But the post-war years rapidly wore out fortunes,
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