The Bottom Line
Pros
- Easy to read and transports you into her world
- Packed with great snippets and details
- Get to know more about now-famous artists
Cons
- Too few photos of the art in her collection
Description
- 526 pages, paperback.
- Publisher: Harper Collins, www.fireandwater.com.
- Three sets of photos showing scenes in Peggy's life.
- Written by Anton Gill, in a highly readable and riveting style.
- Gill's research was on "published and unpublished works, letters, diaries, interviews, gossip".
- Title in the US -- Art Lover: A Biography of Peggy Guggenheim.
- Title in the UK -- Peggy Guggenheim The Life of an Art Critic.
Guide Review - Peggy Guggenheim Biography
Peggy Guggenheim was one of the 20th century's most important collectors of modern art. She supported Cubist, Surreal, and Abstract-Expressionist art in particular. Her home in Venice has been turned into a museum housing her collection (her uncle's collection is housed in the Guggenheim museum in New York).
In this highly readable book you're vividly transported into her world and that of the artists she cultivated. Not to mention her husbands and lovers, who included Max Ernst and Yves Tanguy. The book is full of fascinating incidents and anecdotes, and not above including bitchy quotes.
The art world of the time and the connections between people and events really come alive. If you like modern art and biography, you're sure to enjoy it. Even if you never get to visit the museum in her home in Venice, it's fascinating to read about the life behind that collection of modern art.
