Monday, 5 May 2008

Institution part II - Various Galleries




Below is some information on various galleries around the world, that I have visited, in different parts of Europe:








The Peggy Guggenheim Collection is a small museum on the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy. It is one of several museums of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation.
Containing principally the personal art collection of Peggy Guggenheim (1898–1979), a former wife of artist Max Ernst and a niece of mining magnate Solomon R. Guggenheim, this museum houses a somewhat smaller and more idiosyncratic collection than the other Guggenheim Foundation museums. However, the works on display include those of prominent American modernists and Italian futurists. Pieces in the collection embrace Cubism, Surrealism and Abstract Expressionism. These include notable works by Picasso, Dali, Magritte, Brancusi (including a sculpture from the Bird in Space series) and Pollock.
The collection is housed in the Palazzo Venier dei Leoni, an unfinished 18th century palazzo which was never built past the ground floor level. In one room, the museum also exhibits a few paintings by her daughter Pegeen Vail. In the courtyards between the main buildings are sculpture gardens containing an extensive collection of works.
Its most famous (or notorious) exhibit is the 1948 bronze "The Angel of the City" by Marino Marini, positioned at the front of the palazzo, facing the Grand Canal. It is rumoured that this nude and clearly excited horse rider was originally possessed of a screw-in (sic) demountable penis so that it could be removed in order to avoid offending passing VIPs. So many of the bronze phalluses were stolen (although this may be an urban myth), that the current member has been welded to the Angel's body.

The Peggy Guggenheim Collection is the most important museum in Italy for European and American art of the first half of the 20th century. Philip Rylands is the museum's current director.








Malmö Konsthall was opened in 1975 and is one of Europe’s largest exhibition halls for contemporary art. Architect Klas Anshelm has created an exhibition hall with great flexibility, generous space and fantastic light. The construction materials are light and simple: concrete, glass, wood and aluminium. Most of the gallery has a ceiling constructed like a latticework of 550 domes with both natural and artificial light sources. The height of the ceiling varies. The light well - with the higher ceiling - has a big sloping skylight towards the north. Klas Anshelm got inspiration for the construction when visiting the sculptor Constantin Brancusi in his Paris studio. The result is a gallery that is both functional and aesthetic. An exhibition space that presents the artist with endless possibilities.

Malmö Konsthall arranges exhibitions with an international focus which encompasses both the classics of modern art and current experiments









The Louisiana Museum of Modern Art is located directly on the shore of the Øresund in Humlebæk 35 kilometers north of Copenhagen in Denmark. It has a wide range of modern art paintings, sculptures and videos, including works by artists such as Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, Anselm Kiefer, Alberto Giacometti and Pablo Picasso. The videos are often housed in room settings where the viewer is made to feel part of the scene being portrayed. Perched above the sea, there is a sculpture garden between the museum's two wings with works by artists including Henry Moore, Alexander Calder, and Jean Arp. The name of the museum derives from the first owner of the property, Alexander Brun, who named it for his three wives, each with the name of Louise.
The museum is included in the Patricia Schultz book 1,000 Places to See Before You Die.





Interesting links:

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