What do you think?
Rate this book
Peggy Guggenheim: The Shock of the Modern
One of twentieth-century America’s most influential patrons of the arts, Peggy Guggenheim (1898–1979) brought to wide public attention the work of such modern masters as Jackson Pollock and Man Ray. In her time, there was no stronger advocate for the groundbreaking and the avant-garde. Her midtown gallery was the acknowledged center of the postwar New York art scene, and her museum in Venice, Italy, remains one of the world’s great collections of modern art. Yet as renowned as she was for the art and artists she so tirelessly championed, Guggenheim was equally famous for her unconventional personal life, and for her ironic, playful desire to shock.
Acclaimed best-selling author Francine Prose offers a singular reading of Guggenheim’s life that will enthrall enthusiasts of twentieth-century art, as well as anyone interested in American and European culture and the interrelationships between them. The lively and insightful narrative follows Guggenheim through virtually every aspect of her extraordinary life, from her unique collecting habits and paradigm-changing discoveries, to her celebrity friendships, failed marriages, and scandalous affairs, and Prose delivers a colorful portrait of a defiantly uncompromising woman who maintained a powerful upper hand in a male-dominated world. Prose also explores the ways in which Guggenheim’s image was filtered through the lens of insidious antisemitism.
Acclaimed best-selling author Francine Prose offers a singular reading of Guggenheim’s life that will enthrall enthusiasts of twentieth-century art, as well as anyone interested in American and European culture and the interrelationships between them. The lively and insightful narrative follows Guggenheim through virtually every aspect of her extraordinary life, from her unique collecting habits and paradigm-changing discoveries, to her celebrity friendships, failed marriages, and scandalous affairs, and Prose delivers a colorful portrait of a defiantly uncompromising woman who maintained a powerful upper hand in a male-dominated world. Prose also explores the ways in which Guggenheim’s image was filtered through the lens of insidious antisemitism.
240 pages, Hardcover
First published August 25, 2015
88 people are currently reading
891 people want to read
About the author
Francine Prose
154 books865 followersFrancine Prose is the author of twenty works of fiction. Her novel A Changed Man won the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, and Blue Angel was a finalist for the National Book Award. Her most recent works of nonfiction include the highly acclaimed Anne Frank: The Book, The Life, The Afterlife, and the New York Times bestseller Reading Like a Writer. The recipient of numerous grants and honors, including a Guggenheim and a Fulbright, a Director's Fellow at the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library, Prose is a former president of PEN American Center, and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Her most recent book is Lovers at the Chameleon Club, Paris 1932. She lives in New York City.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 117 reviews
January 13, 2021
Как можно было написать ТАКУЮ бессмысленную книжку, я не понимаю.
Что мы узнаем о Пегги Гуггенхайм:
1) она была еврейкой;
2) евреям в конце 30х - начале 40х в Европе жилось не оч;
3) автор недовольна тем, что все биографы пишут, что у Гуггенхайм был big nose and big money.
Ну, Окей, Гугл, а сама что-то приличное ты написать могла?
Что мы узнаем о Пегги Гуггенхайм:
1) она была еврейкой;
2) евреям в конце 30х - начале 40х в Европе жилось не оч;
3) автор недовольна тем, что все биографы пишут, что у Гуггенхайм был big nose and big money.
Ну, Окей, Гугл, а сама что-то приличное ты написать могла?
April 6, 2021
God, what a gem. What an absolute gem. You don't have to be intrinsically interested in Peggy Guggenheim to get a ton out of this brief, tightly constructed, effortlessly readable biography. The modern art scene of the 20th century American midcentury was as wild as you'd imagine, with so many incredible characters and moments. Pollock and Ernst and Dali, the incomparable Duchamp.... And Guggenheim is an immensely interesting protagonist, spoiled and wise, brilliant and self-destructive. Her life is an object lesson in the fact that someone can be both incredibly privileged and incredibly sad, and her rivalry with her uncle Sol has the ring of someone trying desperately to assert their value in a family where they were never allowed to feel any.
If nothing else, read it for the sheer number of remarkable stories that are contained, which Prose tells masterfully. (She is really skilled at telling stories in a wry, restrained manner, just letting the reader see her arched eyebrows in her writing.) For example, the story where Laurence Veil travels to Mexico to retrieve Peggy's daughter, who had contracted venereal disease on Errol Flynn's yacht and then fallen in love with a pearl diver named Chango....
If nothing else, read it for the sheer number of remarkable stories that are contained, which Prose tells masterfully. (She is really skilled at telling stories in a wry, restrained manner, just letting the reader see her arched eyebrows in her writing.) For example, the story where Laurence Veil travels to Mexico to retrieve Peggy's daughter, who had contracted venereal disease on Errol Flynn's yacht and then fallen in love with a pearl diver named Chango....
March 1, 2025
A smart biography about a fascinating woman that taught me a few new things about modern art.
August 24, 2018
Now that the shock of the modern has given way to the blase, we can look back and wonder what was all the fuss about regarding 'modern art'. Depending on preference, people do gravitate towards the pleasing, but one of arts major functions is to awaken the viewer to an unknown point of view, which might come as a shock. When the shock value has worn off, what is left to treasure?
Peggy G stood out as a certain type of entitled rich who aspire to be recognized for the quality
(as well as quantity) of their taste and its expression. To be modern in all things has perennially been the height of sophistication, and with no tiresome limits on her spending. she could afford to be generous with her attentions.
But PG according to FP suffered from a deep sense of inferiority developed in the hothouse of her tempestuous and competitive relationships, commencing in her family of origin. She worked hard to develop the rapid banter that passed for wit and withstood the critical eye. Were her many lovers interested more in her or her money? And what about her nose? Her outrageous hats tell a story in themselves. Yet I found her, in her photos, quite lovely (despite the hats) and mischievously thoughtful.
...she assumed over decades , a public face she adopted and which over time became indistinguishable from her authentic self, as frequently happens. p14
And we are fortunate that her passion for extremes, for life and for people, extended into art.
Unlucky in love, an inconsistent mother, she yet developed a real flair for detecting talent in its raw state, Her gallery showings and happenings jump started a whole movement. That most of this vanguard were not especially likable or attractive to postmodern sensibilities is irrelevant. They were the ones who took the first fumbling steps to cross over the great divides that classify people according to their origins, and their experiments in art as in loving paved the way for liberation movements for all kinds.
Peggy G stood out as a certain type of entitled rich who aspire to be recognized for the quality
(as well as quantity) of their taste and its expression. To be modern in all things has perennially been the height of sophistication, and with no tiresome limits on her spending. she could afford to be generous with her attentions.
But PG according to FP suffered from a deep sense of inferiority developed in the hothouse of her tempestuous and competitive relationships, commencing in her family of origin. She worked hard to develop the rapid banter that passed for wit and withstood the critical eye. Were her many lovers interested more in her or her money? And what about her nose? Her outrageous hats tell a story in themselves. Yet I found her, in her photos, quite lovely (despite the hats) and mischievously thoughtful.
...she assumed over decades , a public face she adopted and which over time became indistinguishable from her authentic self, as frequently happens. p14
And we are fortunate that her passion for extremes, for life and for people, extended into art.
Unlucky in love, an inconsistent mother, she yet developed a real flair for detecting talent in its raw state, Her gallery showings and happenings jump started a whole movement. That most of this vanguard were not especially likable or attractive to postmodern sensibilities is irrelevant. They were the ones who took the first fumbling steps to cross over the great divides that classify people according to their origins, and their experiments in art as in loving paved the way for liberation movements for all kinds.
October 19, 2021
"I am not art colector, I am a museum", Peggy Guggeheim.
After visiting her palazzo in Venise and adorning the surrealist paintings, she has collected through the years, I was interested to read more about herself.
What I have learned is that inspite of her money, most men abused her as was like " normal" in these days. She fell in love with many men and had incredible amount of lovers, most that profited her money.
And she did have shopping spree, but thar was to buy a painting each day while Paris once. However she bought a lot of art through her lice.
Honestly loved it, such a brave woman and she has made the history. If you're visiting Venice more than recommended to visit her museum.
After visiting her palazzo in Venise and adorning the surrealist paintings, she has collected through the years, I was interested to read more about herself.
What I have learned is that inspite of her money, most men abused her as was like " normal" in these days. She fell in love with many men and had incredible amount of lovers, most that profited her money.
And she did have shopping spree, but thar was to buy a painting each day while Paris once. However she bought a lot of art through her lice.
Honestly loved it, such a brave woman and she has made the history. If you're visiting Venice more than recommended to visit her museum.
January 2, 2021
"Rica, poderosa y extravagante. Su vida personal, salpicada de innumerables escándalos que ella misma relató, en un acto de exhibicionimo, en su autobiografía Confesiones de una adicta al arte, ha dado mucho que hablar. Pero mas allá de todo eso, Peggy Guggenheim es, principalmente, una de las coleccionistas y mecenas mas influyente del siglo XX y a la que la historia del arte le debe tanto.
Tras haber heredado una gran fortuna, y con tan solo 21 años, partió hacia la Europa de entreguerras. De la mano de Duchamp, conoció el arte moderno, se relacionó con los artistas de vanguardia y empezó a dedicar parte de su dinero a dar apoyo a pintores y escultores con la adquisición de sus obras.
Su deseo de provocar y llamar la atención marcó todos los aspectos de su vida pero sobre todo esta afición a escandalizar se vio reflejada en su empeño por mostrar obras de arte innovadoras y chocantes. Quizá ahora, desde nuestro punto de vista, nos parece obvia la importancia de un Kandinsky o un Giacometti pero no lo era tanto entonces, cuando los nazis perseguían lo que denominaban “arte degenerado”. Es significativo como el Museo del Louvre rechaza proteger su colección ante la invasión alemana por considerar que no merecía la pena salvar esas obras demasiado modernas. Es probable que ni siquiera las considerara arte.
Sin embargo, la colección de Peggy fue crucial, no solo para impulsar el surrealismo y el cubismo sino, especialmente, para la creación del expresionimos abstracto. Sus piezas permitieron a los artistas de la Escuela de Nueva York conocer de primera mano los movimientos artísticos que se estaban gestando en Europa. Y estos tuvieron un papel decisivo en el desarrollo de un estilo propiamente estadounidense y en la obra de su máximo exponente: Jackson Pollock, quien acabaría convirtiéndose, en palabras del crítico de arte Clement Greemberg, “en el pintor mas grande que Estados Unidos ha producido”. Raquel Ungo
Tras haber heredado una gran fortuna, y con tan solo 21 años, partió hacia la Europa de entreguerras. De la mano de Duchamp, conoció el arte moderno, se relacionó con los artistas de vanguardia y empezó a dedicar parte de su dinero a dar apoyo a pintores y escultores con la adquisición de sus obras.
Su deseo de provocar y llamar la atención marcó todos los aspectos de su vida pero sobre todo esta afición a escandalizar se vio reflejada en su empeño por mostrar obras de arte innovadoras y chocantes. Quizá ahora, desde nuestro punto de vista, nos parece obvia la importancia de un Kandinsky o un Giacometti pero no lo era tanto entonces, cuando los nazis perseguían lo que denominaban “arte degenerado”. Es significativo como el Museo del Louvre rechaza proteger su colección ante la invasión alemana por considerar que no merecía la pena salvar esas obras demasiado modernas. Es probable que ni siquiera las considerara arte.
Sin embargo, la colección de Peggy fue crucial, no solo para impulsar el surrealismo y el cubismo sino, especialmente, para la creación del expresionimos abstracto. Sus piezas permitieron a los artistas de la Escuela de Nueva York conocer de primera mano los movimientos artísticos que se estaban gestando en Europa. Y estos tuvieron un papel decisivo en el desarrollo de un estilo propiamente estadounidense y en la obra de su máximo exponente: Jackson Pollock, quien acabaría convirtiéndose, en palabras del crítico de arte Clement Greemberg, “en el pintor mas grande que Estados Unidos ha producido”. Raquel Ungo
February 19, 2021
This is a biography of Peggy Guggenheim who promoted avant-guarde artists like Man Ray and Jackson Pollock in her gallery in Midtown Manhattan and later in the museum she established in her Venetian palazzo. Never an easy person to deal with, she embraced modern art with both hands and didn't care who it shocked. An interesting portrait o a one-of-a-kind American.
November 10, 2020
I didn't know that much about Peggy going into this biography. I wanted to learn more about her after finishing a biography of Leonora Carrington. The entire 1941 flight from Europe episode with Leonora, Leonora's Mexican lover(then husband), Max Ernst as both Peggy & Leonora's lover, Peggy, Peggy's 2 teenage kids, Peggy's ex-husband and his current wife - it was like a serious screwball comedy, if that makes sense. I kept thinking it would make a great movie. Anyway, Carrington's biography presented the events from the perspective of Carrington so I wanted to read about it from Guggenheim's perspective.
I appreciated how Prose discussed some of the more egregious past comments about Peggy - the antisemitism, the sex shaming, the comments about her looks....it was surprising to read about how people were so quick to attack her, especially those she helped out a lot. She got a lot of flack over the years so I found her ability to push forward with her plans for art collecting and opening art galleries impressive. She could have crumbled under the stress of being a woman in the art world, but didn't.
Prose didn't shy from discussing the negative traits of Peggy, especially concerning her parenting of Sindbad and Pegeen (those names!). Peggy took the hands off, selfish style of parenting that wealthy people of that era did and magnified it by 100. When she wasn't ignoring them, she was being overly familiar, discussing in detail her sex life with them. Just what every kid wants to hear about, their mom's latest lover. Sindbad rebelled by being sporty and outdoorsy and seemed to be able to escape Peggy. Pegeen bore the brunt of Peggy's terrible mothering. It was sad reading about Pegeen's attempts to win her mother's attention. And that obit Peggy wrote about Pegeen! She was like a mother and a sister to Peggy?!?! Well, that attitude certainly explains a lot.
Peggy's attempts to numb herself, self-medicate in a sense, through compulsive sex and abusive affairs were depressing to read about. I didn't get the impression that sex was a happy thing for her. Her need to have the man in her life physically abuse her....wow. Prose writes about trying not to victim blame when discussing these abusive relationships but needing to portray the whole story, that Peggy in a sense was only happy once she got a man to hit her because that then meant he cared about her. I feel like Prose left out a lot of crazy that must have happened in Peggy's childhood. She was drawn to angry, alcoholic men. A form of self-punishment? The need for abasement? I felt sorry for her.
This book is a good introduction to Peggy and the mid century art world she inhabited. A good launching off point to deeper, more detailed biographies of the people of that era.
I appreciated how Prose discussed some of the more egregious past comments about Peggy - the antisemitism, the sex shaming, the comments about her looks....it was surprising to read about how people were so quick to attack her, especially those she helped out a lot. She got a lot of flack over the years so I found her ability to push forward with her plans for art collecting and opening art galleries impressive. She could have crumbled under the stress of being a woman in the art world, but didn't.
Prose didn't shy from discussing the negative traits of Peggy, especially concerning her parenting of Sindbad and Pegeen (those names!). Peggy took the hands off, selfish style of parenting that wealthy people of that era did and magnified it by 100. When she wasn't ignoring them, she was being overly familiar, discussing in detail her sex life with them. Just what every kid wants to hear about, their mom's latest lover. Sindbad rebelled by being sporty and outdoorsy and seemed to be able to escape Peggy. Pegeen bore the brunt of Peggy's terrible mothering. It was sad reading about Pegeen's attempts to win her mother's attention. And that obit Peggy wrote about Pegeen! She was like a mother and a sister to Peggy?!?! Well, that attitude certainly explains a lot.
Peggy's attempts to numb herself, self-medicate in a sense, through compulsive sex and abusive affairs were depressing to read about. I didn't get the impression that sex was a happy thing for her. Her need to have the man in her life physically abuse her....wow. Prose writes about trying not to victim blame when discussing these abusive relationships but needing to portray the whole story, that Peggy in a sense was only happy once she got a man to hit her because that then meant he cared about her. I feel like Prose left out a lot of crazy that must have happened in Peggy's childhood. She was drawn to angry, alcoholic men. A form of self-punishment? The need for abasement? I felt sorry for her.
This book is a good introduction to Peggy and the mid century art world she inhabited. A good launching off point to deeper, more detailed biographies of the people of that era.
November 12, 2015
I was very excited to read about the woman who almost single handedly brought modern art to the world's attention. I adore the art but reading this has disappointed me as to the qualities and characteristics of the artists and atmosphere that brought this movement to life. Very little to admire from this bunch of extreme narcissists and Peggy was the biggest of them all. That said if I ever revisit Venice I am not missing her museum!
https://www.khanacademy.org/humanitie...
http://www.guggenheim.org
https://www.khanacademy.org/humanitie...
http://www.guggenheim.org
June 24, 2022
This is a peculiar book. I did not know anything about Peggy Guggenheim; except of her very cool friend group and amazing collection of art. This book spoke about her life, but it left an impression of a bored, annoying woman with too much money.
Someone with such good and innovative taste could not have been only that, right? I’m definitely going to see if I can read something else about her, to see where that brings me.
Someone with such good and innovative taste could not have been only that, right? I’m definitely going to see if I can read something else about her, to see where that brings me.
November 28, 2015
I was very interested in learning about how Peggy Guggenheim put together her collection and about her early galleries. But I found the book to be repetitive, primarily about Guggenheim's failed marriages and affairs and poor parenting skills. Disappointing.
March 21, 2016
This is not a definitive biography. Rather it is one of a series of works published by Yale University Press called Jewish Lives. In a breezy way, the book effectively outlines Guggenheim's remarkable life and her impact on the development of modern art. Francine Prose covers Guggenheim's interest in and collection of art in Europe by the "degenerate" group Hitler deplored. She managed to get the collection to the U.S. as war was breaking out in Europe. In doing so, she gave the US art community its first significant exposure to this avant-garde art. This in turn inspired American artists to test new approaches and led to the rise of Abstract Impressionism and the shift in focus of innovative art from Europe to the United States. She was an early promoter of Jackson Pollock, for example, and was at the center of a world of creative people. Guggenheim is portrayed as insecure and lacking confidence in her own taste; she sought advice from many sources. This insecurity coexisted with a compulsion to shock and disturb. Her incredible personal life and inept motherhood is a story in itself, and Prose covers it in gossipy detail. A good read and introduction to the art world in post-war USA.
December 5, 2021
I was disappointed that this biography seemed to dwell almost exclusively on the chaotic, sordid, downright lurid details of Guggenheim's personal life while giving virtually no space to explaining what she saw in surrealist and abstract expressionist art that caused her to champion the artists who were creating a whole new direction for visual art in the post-WWII era, and why she devoted much of her considerable wealth to acquiring it. A missed opportunity.
November 27, 2021
Interesting and informative view of an important person in the arts world. I didn't know anything much about her before, so it was a good learning experience for me, but pictured a sad and strange life.
April 7, 2020
A refreshingly compassionate and even kind look at an unconventional woman responsible for bringing the tradition of art patronage into the 20th century and beyond.
August 9, 2021
Овај есеј, слеш писмени састав, слеш биографија, се бави освртом на живот и каријеру Пеги Гугенхајм, познате колекционарке уметности, озбиљној ријалити играчици и братаници Семјуела Гугенхајма.
Заиста је тешко након читања схватити зашто је ова књига (овако) написана... Делује као да Франсин Проуз нема талента и да је неко приморао да напише ову књигу. Ритам приповедања и однос према ликовима одишу доста јаком курцобољом.
Зато иду 2 звездице. Са друге стране сама материја тачније живот Пеги Гугенхајм може да стане барабар са најпикантнијим житијима које можете да замислите. Од Титаника на којем је изгубила оца до армије селебритија који су статирали у њеном ћивоту. На жалост, уместо лаке разбибриге у виду Марићевске глазуре ми овде добијамо натуралистички исприповедану беду свих актера који се појављују. Степен духовне мизерије који срећемо код Пеги, њене ретардиране породице, Макса Ернста, Бекета, Дишана, Полока и свих осталих статиста је толико дубок да ћете у будуће Милијану Кулић и Ивана Маринковића поштовати као просветитеље.
Непатворена гнусоба која избија из сваке поре уметничког бизниса у овој књизи је описана на изузетно ефектан начин.
Тако да без обзира на никакав стил, ова књига може доста тога да вас научи!
Заиста је тешко након читања схватити зашто је ова књига (овако) написана... Делује као да Франсин Проуз нема талента и да је неко приморао да напише ову књигу. Ритам приповедања и однос према ликовима одишу доста јаком курцобољом.
Зато иду 2 звездице. Са друге стране сама материја тачније живот Пеги Гугенхајм може да стане барабар са најпикантнијим житијима које можете да замислите. Од Титаника на којем је изгубила оца до армије селебритија који су статирали у њеном ћивоту. На жалост, уместо лаке разбибриге у виду Марићевске глазуре ми овде добијамо натуралистички исприповедану беду свих актера који се појављују. Степен духовне мизерије који срећемо код Пеги, њене ретардиране породице, Макса Ернста, Бекета, Дишана, Полока и свих осталих статиста је толико дубок да ћете у будуће Милијану Кулић и Ивана Маринковића поштовати као просветитеље.
Непатворена гнусоба која избија из сваке поре уметничког бизниса у овој књизи је описана на изузетно ефектан начин.
Тако да без обзира на никакав стил, ова књига може доста тога да вас научи!
July 26, 2021
I visited the Peggy Guggenheim gallery in Venice a long time ago and it was interesting to learn more about her life and art collection. The biography is thematic rather than strictly chronological and that was a little confusing in the beginning but the early section about the outbreak of the Second World War is later placed in context. There's a lot of material about Guggenheim's personal life in the first half and more about her art patronage and palazzo in Venice in the second half. Her family was quite interesting, filled with distinctive characters including her father Benjamin Guggenheim who died in the sinking of the Titanic. Her personal life was very depressing. The audiobook is well read.
August 24, 2020
Very interesting read about one of the premiere art collectors of the 20th century. Single handedly Peggy managed to save a vast collection of modern art from WWII and the Nazis. There is a great description of the museum in Venice in the last chapter.
November 16, 2020
Peggy Guggenheim was definitely a very interesting person and her biography is also like an art history. But what annoyed me in the book was a very visible authors opinion about Peggy. A bit more objective view would have worked much better.
November 23, 2022
I listened to this audio book in fits and starts over a number of weeks. Prose is, as always, an excellent, thoughtful writer, but I was less taken by this book than an earlier biography of Guggenheim, Peggy: The Wayward Guggenheim, that I read in my twenties. Not sure if the difference has more to do with the differences in these books or my own age and shifting interests.
May 25, 2025
If you haven’t heard of Peggy Guggenheim you’re missing out. An art collector from a famous family Peggy travelled the world buying art.
Peggy supported and showcased a young Jackson Pollock at her gallery. The author delves into Peggy’s life, she was one interesting lady.
Peggy supported and showcased a young Jackson Pollock at her gallery. The author delves into Peggy’s life, she was one interesting lady.
September 27, 2021
Such an interesting and terrible life Peggy had. Never felt happier with my uninteresting and pleasant life.
January 9, 2022
giving this a 5/5, even though I don’t fee so ecstatic about Peggy Guggenheim
August 14, 2022
I knew nothing about Peggy Guggenheim going in and now I know some stuff, so I guess this book achieved its aim. I liked how it was quite tightly written and not completely chronological.
July 1, 2022
She slayed
May 16, 2016
A sympathetic and brief biography about Peggy Guggenheim, socialite and art collector, who brought Surrealism to America and Abstract Expressionism to Venice. A fascinating woman full of contradictions, she was independent, intelligent, and ahead of her time, while also insecure, presenting herself as a much less accomplished person than she really was. Though family life was touched by tragedy, she developed into an influential and powerful collector and promoter of contemporary art. The author, Francine Prose, also finds her to be an excellent writer, especially graceful in her description of Venice.
November 19, 2016
Entertaining and gossipy, a quick read. A little meandering at times and contradictory (on one page the author tells us that Peggy is sexually attracted to a certain man, then on the next page tells us that Peggy did not find him attractive...?). It is a sympathetic look at a very complex and interesting woman.
October 28, 2015
such a sad life....but a brilliant advocate of the arts
July 28, 2018
If you’re an art-lover, chances are you’ve heard of the Guggenheim family. Wealthy industrialists with a passion for painting, sculpture, and the like, their eponymous museum is a landmark of the New York City art world. Their patronage and promotion are directly responsible for shaping modern art as it exists today. No one in the Guggenheim family deserves more of this credit than Peggy Guggenheim, a thoroughly unique, thoroughly ahead-of-her-time woman who pushed the boundaries of art, sex, and decency kicking and screaming into the future. “Peggy Guggenheim: The Shock Of The Modern” by Francine Prose tries - not always successfully - to give the mercurial heiress her due.
Perhaps best known for her support of Jackson Pollock, the fact is that Peggy Guggenheim was responsible for the careers of dozens of artists, some now famous (or infamous) and many more who faded into obscurity. Her appetite for art was voracious, so much so that she attempted to buy a painting a day. Her money wasn’t her only contribution, though; without her tireless efforts in getting art and artists out of the way of the war, there’s no doubt that there’d be an irrevocable gap in art history. Peggy had other passions beside art. Deeply insecure and yet somehow boldly confident, she used - and was used by - men at a fantastic rate, far more openly than a woman of polite society would at the time. Sadly, Prose gives equal time in the book to Peggy’s bedroom exploits as she does her art collecting; Prose indulges in these stories so often that reading “Peggy Guggenheim: The Shock Of The Modern” is like flipping through a tabloid magazine tucked inside the pages of an art history book. Sure, Peggy was a dynamic, shocking, and thrilling personality but I just wanted more of the art speak, you know? After a while all the affairs and abusive relationships kind of blurred together, especially because Prose doesn’t tell Peggy’s story in a strictly linear fashion. Much like the “degenerative” modern art that she loved so much, this biography of Peggy Guggenheim can be a messy and difficult work.
Peggy Guggenheim published three versions of her autobiography, a fact that seems entirely in keeping with her scattered personality. There have also been numerous biographies about her personal and professional lives. “Peggy Guggenheim: The Shock Of The Modern” reads like it’s trying to consolidate all these various texts but, instead of feeling like a comprehensive collection, the comes off as more of a superficial overview. Superficial in its original research (as opposed to recycling previous works) and also in its focus on Peggy’s more salacious behaviors. Listening to the audiobook while running was fine - it was informative but laid back enough that I could listen to it without using too much brainpower - but I suspect that if I’d been reading the actual book instead, I probably wouldn’t have finished it.
Perhaps best known for her support of Jackson Pollock, the fact is that Peggy Guggenheim was responsible for the careers of dozens of artists, some now famous (or infamous) and many more who faded into obscurity. Her appetite for art was voracious, so much so that she attempted to buy a painting a day. Her money wasn’t her only contribution, though; without her tireless efforts in getting art and artists out of the way of the war, there’s no doubt that there’d be an irrevocable gap in art history. Peggy had other passions beside art. Deeply insecure and yet somehow boldly confident, she used - and was used by - men at a fantastic rate, far more openly than a woman of polite society would at the time. Sadly, Prose gives equal time in the book to Peggy’s bedroom exploits as she does her art collecting; Prose indulges in these stories so often that reading “Peggy Guggenheim: The Shock Of The Modern” is like flipping through a tabloid magazine tucked inside the pages of an art history book. Sure, Peggy was a dynamic, shocking, and thrilling personality but I just wanted more of the art speak, you know? After a while all the affairs and abusive relationships kind of blurred together, especially because Prose doesn’t tell Peggy’s story in a strictly linear fashion. Much like the “degenerative” modern art that she loved so much, this biography of Peggy Guggenheim can be a messy and difficult work.
Peggy Guggenheim published three versions of her autobiography, a fact that seems entirely in keeping with her scattered personality. There have also been numerous biographies about her personal and professional lives. “Peggy Guggenheim: The Shock Of The Modern” reads like it’s trying to consolidate all these various texts but, instead of feeling like a comprehensive collection, the comes off as more of a superficial overview. Superficial in its original research (as opposed to recycling previous works) and also in its focus on Peggy’s more salacious behaviors. Listening to the audiobook while running was fine - it was informative but laid back enough that I could listen to it without using too much brainpower - but I suspect that if I’d been reading the actual book instead, I probably wouldn’t have finished it.
July 25, 2021
The three stars is more of a rating of my own ambivalence about the writing of a book that I really enjoyed reading. Francine Prose's prose is very blunt, as are her assessments of people, art, architecture, literature, music. Prose is comfortable in what from-the-outside-looking-in seems like a very erudite culture - modern artists, galleries, Paris, New York, mid-century - and her cast of characters are as stunted and brilliant at the rest of us.
Peggy just had a lot of money and an appreciation for living on the social and intellectual edge of the 20th century, as we were all contending with 'the shock of the modern.'
But Prose does not question the boundaries of Peggy's world - the money is just there, a force that defines that world and, ultimately, Peggy herself. Although Prose has an appreciation for Peggy's gifts - specifically her ability to build and share an incredible collection of modern art - she also makes it clear that it is Peggy's money that had given her the power to be one of the 'players' in the 20th century art world. Peggy may have been responsible for the flair with which she played her role, but there was no role without the money.
So, it is odd to me that Prose does not question how the money created the world. The modern does not seem so shocking to me; it just feels as if the bad behaviors of the late 19th century ruling elite found a different outlet in the arty, unfaithful, narcissistic world of the post-war Euro-American elite.
And, yet, what an interesting, non-boring little book Prose has written. She was profiled in the New York Times a month or so ago as she has written a new book called The Vixen about Ethel and Julius Rosenberg. I plan on reading it so a second does of Prose will inevitably refute or underscore my unease with Prose's willingness to accept the boundaries of Guggenheim's wealth and the sort of world it created.
Three stars for undecided.
Peggy just had a lot of money and an appreciation for living on the social and intellectual edge of the 20th century, as we were all contending with 'the shock of the modern.'
But Prose does not question the boundaries of Peggy's world - the money is just there, a force that defines that world and, ultimately, Peggy herself. Although Prose has an appreciation for Peggy's gifts - specifically her ability to build and share an incredible collection of modern art - she also makes it clear that it is Peggy's money that had given her the power to be one of the 'players' in the 20th century art world. Peggy may have been responsible for the flair with which she played her role, but there was no role without the money.
So, it is odd to me that Prose does not question how the money created the world. The modern does not seem so shocking to me; it just feels as if the bad behaviors of the late 19th century ruling elite found a different outlet in the arty, unfaithful, narcissistic world of the post-war Euro-American elite.
And, yet, what an interesting, non-boring little book Prose has written. She was profiled in the New York Times a month or so ago as she has written a new book called The Vixen about Ethel and Julius Rosenberg. I plan on reading it so a second does of Prose will inevitably refute or underscore my unease with Prose's willingness to accept the boundaries of Guggenheim's wealth and the sort of world it created.
Three stars for undecided.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 117 reviews