Press Release

FROM APRIL 6, SECOND INSTALLMENT OF:

THEMES AND VARIATIONS POST-WAR ART FROM THE GUGGENHEIM COLLECTIONS

On Saturday April 6th 2002, the Collection inaugurates the second part of the exhibition “Themes and Variations. Post-war Art from the Guggenheim Collections”, curated by Luca Massimo Barbero. The installation will take a new and original look at the some of the masterpieces from the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, presenting works not seen by the Italian public for many years. Another important aspect will be the dedication of an entire room to Bice Lazzari, an abstract artist whose work, from the 1920’s, will not fail to amaze and astonish the public for its originality and coherence.

“Themes and Variations” will continue along a stimulating and sometimes provocative path, proposing several principal themes to unite and compare Post World War II works from the Guggenheim collections. This instalment will give us the possibility to admire the famous Empire of Light (1953-54) by René Magritte alongside the magical seduction of the three dimensional work by Joseph Cornell, Setting for a Fairy Tale (1942). Three consecutive rooms have been dedicated to the themes of Fantastical Settings (?); the Myth, the Magic and the Ritual(?); and the Metamorphosis of the Human Figure(?). This previously unseen presentation of these themes are sure to spark great curiosity. The treatment of such ominous and fascinating issues by these surrealist artists were to lay the foundation for the artists of future generations.

Peggy Guggenheim’s collection of surrealist art provided a fundamental key to understanding the important themes of the unconscious, the metamorphosis, the magic of primordial and fantastical rituals. Here exhibited is the celestial screaming idol, in Rufino Tamayo’s Heavenly Bodies (1946) together with Matta’s sexually charged characters in his science fiction-like work in The Un-nominator renominated (1952-53). A rarely exhibited sculpture from Papua, New Guinea belonging to the Peggy Guggenheim Collection dominates the same room. Furthermore, for the first time the public will be able to witness, reunited, an important body of sculpture from the collection ranging from Giacometti, Moore, Armitage, Chadwick, Richier, to Butler, Hare, César and Lipchitz. These sculptures illustrate either the metamorphosis or the new sculptural interpretation of the human form, themes which characterize the work of many international sculptors working in the post-war period. In addition to a small room, which gathers together important works on paper by American artists who demonstrated an affinity with abstract expressionism, namely De Kooning, Marca-Relli, Tobey and Sam Francis, a further room is dedicated to Venetian artists linked to Peggy Guggenheim.

Peggy Guggenheim’s relationship with Italian Art marks another significant chapter in her life. With her arrival in in 1947, Peggy immediately entered the circle of Giuseppe Santomaso (whose important work Letter to Palladio n. 6, 1977 is exhibited), Emilio Vedova (represented here by Hostage City 1951, a work acquired at the ), and . In addition to the influence of her collection over the spirit of the Italian avant-garde, Peggy Guggenheim supported and encouraged, among others, the painters Tancredi and Edmondo Bacci, contributing to the international promotion of their work. A reconstruction of one of the most powerful bodies of work that Peggy Guggenheim herself collected and housed at Palazzo Venier dei Leoni, brings the second installation to an end; it includes the works of the CoBrA artists, Alechinsky, Appel, Corneille and Jorn.

# 106, April 5, 2002

Banca del Gottardo is Institutional Patron of the Peggy Guggenheim Collection

The programs of the Peggy Guggenheim Collection are made possible by the Peggy Guggenheim Collection Advisory Board, Alitalia, Regione Veneto and:

______INTRAPRESÆ COLLEZIONE GUGGENHEIM Aermec Hangar Design Group Andersen Hausbrandt Arclinea Leo Burnett Automotive Products Italia Lubiam 1911 Banca Antoniana Popolare Veneta Palladio Finanziaria Barbero 1891 Pitti Immagine Bisazza Rex Built-In Booz Allen Hamilton Salvatore Ferragamo Fitt Swatch Gretag Imaging Group Unipol Assicurazioni Gruppo 3M Italia Wella Zucchi - Bassetti Group

Peggy Guggenheim Collection tel. +39.041.2405 411; fax +39.041.5206 885; e-mail: [email protected] Internet: http://www.guggenheim.org; http://www.guggenheim-venice.it Opening times: 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. daily. Closed Tuesdays and 25 December Ingresso: € 8; € 5 (concessions); children under 12 and members free Facilities: Museum Shop, Museum Café, Audioguides Further Information: Liesbeth Bollen: tel. +39. 041. 2405 404; fax +39. 041. 5206885; e-mail: [email protected]