On the eightieth anniversary this year of the establishment by Solomon R. Guggenheim of his Foundation in New York, the museum has mounted  (winter and spring of 2017) an exhibition of a portion of the founding collection.  

This founding collection is that of a handful of people, as many women as men, and represents their faith in the future of the art of their civilization. 

A future which they enabled and preserved.  Not only did they give encouragement to abstract art, they also preserved the tradition in which representational painting resides.

I say this because, as we know, representational painting has  been under attack in our civilization since the ascendance of the New York School from 1940 onwards. 

Representational painting has not died.  It is flourishing.  I don’t think it ever will die while we have the example of these jewels, these reference points,  this record of a slice of life preserved from the dawn of the modern age.  

 

The Yellow Sweater, 11918-19, oil on canvas.  Amedeo Modigliani, 1884-1920, Solomon R. Guggenheim, NY

 

The collection is comprised of the paintings Solomon R. Guggenheim bought starting in the late 1920s with the advice of the German immigrant artist, Hilla Rebay (1890-1967) who brought him news of the development of abstract (then called ‘non-objective’) art in Europe.  By 1947, Solomon R. Guggenheim had bequeathed almost 600 paintings and sculptural works to this collection

of Hilla Rebay’s own bequest to the collection of her acquisitions

of some of the paintings amassed by Katharine Dreier, an artist, who, with Marcel Duchamp and Man Ray, established the Societe Anonyme in 1920 to present and collect new art;

of the acquisition of the estate of the German art dealer, an immigrant to New York from war in Europe,  Karl Nierendorf (1889-1947) who died unexpectedly young; 

of the bequest of a second German art dealer, also fleeing war in Europe,  Justin K. Thannhauser (1892-1976).  His contribution  to this collection is primarily of early modern representational work.

of the  acquisitions of Peggy  Guggenheim (1898-1979), a niece of Solomon Guggenheim.  Her collection normally resides in Venice.

 

 

Dining Room on the Garden, 1934-35, oil on canvas. Pierre Bonnard, 1864-1947.  Solomon R. Guggenheim, NY

 

The founding collection includes both abstract and representational art, painting and sculptures. 

These are some of the representational painting some of which, of course, can also be classified as cubist, symbolic and even Surrealist.

 

The Flying Carriage,  1913, oil on canvas.  Marc Chagall, born 1887 Russia, died 1985 France.  Solomon R. Guggenheim, NY

 

The Soldier Drinks, 1911-12, oil on canvas.  Marc Chagall, born 1887 Russia, died 1985 France.  Solomon R. Guggenheim, NY

 

Paris Through The Window, 1913, oil on canvas.  Marc Chagall, born 1887 Russia, died 1985 France.  Solomon R. Guggenheim, NY

 

Landscape and detail, 1940, oil on canvas.  Josef Scharl, 1896 Germany-1954 USA. Estate of Karl Nierndorf

 

The Zouave, 1888, reed and quill pen and ink over graphite on paper.  Vincent Van Gogh, 1853-1890, Dutch.  Thannhauser Collection, Solomon R. Guggenheim, NY

 

The Hermitage at Pontoise and details, c. 1876, oil on canvas.  Camille Pissarro, 1830-1903, French.  Thannhauser Collection, Solomon R. Guggenheim, NY

 

Woman with Parakeet, 1871, oil on canvas.  Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 1841-1919.  Thannhauser Collection, Solomon R. Guggenheim, NY

 

Still Life, Plate of Peaches, 1879-1880.  Paul Cezanne, 1839-1906.  Thannhauser Collection, Solomon R. Guggeneheim, NY

 

Mountains at Saint Remy and detail, oil on canvas, 1889.  Vincent Van Gogh, 1853-1890.  Thannhauser Collection, Solomon R. Guggenheim, NY

 

Artillerymen and detail, c. 1893, oil on canvas.  Henry Rousseau, 1844-1910, French.  Solomon R. Guggenheim, NY

 

 

The Football Player, 1908, oil on canvas.  Henri Rousseau, 1844-1910, French.

 

 

Woman Ironing and detail, 1904, oil on canvas.  Pablo Picasso, 1991-1973, Spanish.  Thannhauser Collection

 

 

Photograph of Solomon R. Guggenheim, c. 1930, by Laszlo Moholy-Nagy

 

Man in a Tower, 1924, oil on canvas.  Andre Masson,  1896-1987  French.  Estate of Karl Nierendorf

 

In the Salon, 1893, pastel and oil on paperboard.  Henri de Toulouse Lautrec, 1864-1901.

 

 

Woman with Yellow Hair, 1931, oil on canvas.  Pablo Picasso, 1881-1973.  Thannhauser Collection

 

Dancers, 1906, ink on paper.  Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, 1880-1938, German. Estate of Karl Nierendorf

 

Listening, 1920, oil on canvas.  Heinrich Campendonk, 1889-1957, German.   Gift of Katherine S. Dreier

 

Haere Mai and details, 1891, oil on burlap.  Paul Gaugin, French, 1848-1902.  Thannhauser Collection, Solomon R. Guggenheim, NY

 

Café, Jug and Fruit bowl, 1909, oil on canvas.  Pablo Picasso, 1881-1973, Spanish.   Solomon R. Guggenheim, NY

 

Nude, 1917, oil on canvas.  Amedeo Modigliani, 1884-1920, Italian.  Solomon R. Guggenheim, NY

 

Le Moulin de la Galette and details, 1900, oil on canvas.  Pablo Picasso, 1881-1973, Spanish.  Thannhauser Collection, Solomon R. Guggenheim, NY

 

Eiffel Tower, 1911, oil on canvas.  Robert Delaunay, 1885-1941, French.  Solomon R. Guggenheim, NY

 

The City and detail, 1911, oil on canvas.  Robert Delaunay, 1885-1941, Solomon R. Guggenheim, NY

 

At the Revue Blanche and detail, 1901, oil on paperboard.  Edouard Vuillard,  1868-1940, French.  The Hilla Rebay Collection

 

Portrait of Countess Albazzi, 1880, pastel on primed canvas. Edouard Manet, 1832-1883, French.  Thannhauser Collection

 

The Table, 1922, watercolour and gouache on paper.  Pablo Picasso, 1881-1973, Spanish.  Thannhauser Collection

 

 

Peasant with Hoe and detail, 1882, oil on canvas.  Georges Seurat, 1859-1991, French.

 

Farm Women at Work, 1882-83; oil on canvas.  Georges Seurat, 1859-1991, French. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York.

 

Peasant Woman Seated on the Grass, detail,  1883, oil on canvas.  Georges Seurat, 1859-1891, French. Solomon R. Guggenheim, NY

 

 

Medrano II, 1913-’14, painted tin, wood, glass, painted oilcloth.  Alexander Archipenko, 1887-1964, Russian.

 

Landscape with Snow,  1888, oil on canvas.  Vincent Van Gogh, 1853-1890, Dutch. Thannhauser Collection

 

Red Cross Train Passing a Village, 1915, oil on canvas.  Gino Severini, 1883-1966, Italian.  Solomon R. Guggenheim, NY

 

 

In the Vanilla Grove, Man and Horse and details, 1891, oil on burlap.  Paul Gaugin, 1848-1903, French. Thannhauser Collection

 

Landscape near Antwerp, 1906, oil on canvas.  Georges Braque, 1882-1963, French.  Thannhauser Collection

 

Three Bathers, 1920, pastel, oil, ink and graphite on paper.  Pablo Picasso, 1881-1973, Spanish.  Thannhauser Collection

 

Profile of Woman with a Chignon, 1904, graphite, ink and watercolour on paper.  Pablo Picasso, 1881-1973, Spanish.  Thannhauser Collection

 

Man with Crossed Arms and detail, 1899, oil on canvas.  Paul Cezanne, 1839-1906, French.  Solomon R. Guggenheim,  NY

 

 

Dancers in Green and Yellow, 1903 and detail, pastel and charcoal on tracing paper mounted to paperboard.  Edgar Degas, 1834-1917., French.  Thannhauser Collection

 

Blue Mountain, 1908-09, oil on canvas.  Vasily Kandinsky, 1866 Russia-1944 France.  Solomon R. Guggenheim, NY

 

Before the Mirror, 1876, oil on canvas.  Edouard Manet, 1832-1833, French.  Thannhauser Collection

 

Morning in the Village after Snowstorm and detail, 1912, oil on canvas.  Kazimir Malevich, 1878-1935, Russian

 

Place Vintimille (Place Adolphe Max now) and detail, 1908-1910, distemper on paper mounted on canvas.  Edouard Vuillard, 1868-1940, French.  Thannhauser Collection

 

Place Vintimille (Place Adolphe Max now) and detail, 1908-1910, distemper on paper mounted on canvas.  Edouard Vuillard, 1868-1940, French.  Thannhauser Collection