Page 19 - Studio International - January 1965
P. 19

The  Peggy  Guggenheim  Collection



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                                                                                    theories, ways of expression, recognized fames.  Critical
                                                                                    revisions,  in  the  light  of new  philosophical  demands,
                                                                                    damaged  or  destroyed  many  historical  schemes  that
                                                                                    seemed  established  and  lasting.  The  maieutic  art
                                                                                    practised  by  Peggy  to  discover  new  pictorical  talents
                                                                                    among the young, and which reached its highest point
                                                                                    with  Pollock's  success,  was no longer suitable  to the
                                                                                    rhythm of the time, to the rising and falling, in the course
                                                                                    of  a  short  season,  of  the  most  resounding  fames.
                                                                                    Peggy's  avant-garde  collection  became  thus,  in  the
                                                                                    twinkling of an eye,  an  'historical' collection.
                                                                                     And in this perspective it will  be viewed at the  Tate
                                                                                    Gallery, comprehended in a space of time which goes
                                                                                    from  Braque's  and  Picasso's  analytic  cubism  to
                                                                                    Pollock's  'action  painting.'
                                                                                     It comprehends therefore a period of modern art that,
                                                                                    without  a  moment's  hesitation,  I  declare  heroic,
                                                                                    although with no  intention  of making a myth of it by
                                                                                    snatching it  away  from the  field  of history.
                                                                                     Peggy  Guggenheim's  collection,  begun  in  London,
                                                                                    goes back to  London at the right moment for a critical
                                                                                    review  of  avant-garde  art,  it will  give the opportunity
                                                                                    of writing a history beyond the present scheme, founded
                                                                                    on  the  values recognized  by a  critical research deep­
                                                                                    laid from a methodological and  interpretative point of
                                                                                    view.                                         ■

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