Pegeen Guggenheim - A Nomadic, Artful Life

No, that wasn't a misspelling...I'm talking about Pegeen, not Peggy. 


Most everybody's heard the Guggenheim name. Whether from their famous art collections gathered throughout the world in their own Guggenheim Galleries (New York, Bilbao, Berlin, Abu Dhabi, and Venice) whose architecture is almost as awe-inspiring as the artwork they contain, or from their famous American Dream story of Meyer Guggenheim immigrating and making it to the top of the Industrial Empire.  Or maybe you knew that one of Meyer's sons, Benjamin, gave up his lifejacket, and hence, his life, on the ill-fated Titanic.  The Guggenheims are kind of a big deal...
  

So of course, on my recent trip to Venice, I had planned a stop at the Peggy Guggenheim collection in the historic Palazzo Venier along the Grand Canal (read: NOT a Frank Gehry or Frank Lloyd Wright building). 

Peggy Guggenheim on the terrace of her Palazzo Venier dei Leoni; Venice, early 1950's.
 Photo copyrighted by Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation
 Photo by Roloff Beny.

Peggy had different taste in art than I do.  She was a fan of Surrealist painters and their work, and I, am not.  Too each one's own.  The Gallery itself is quite intimate (and crowded) since it was formerly Peggy's primary residence.  As I wandered from room to room, I was more enchanted with the space, and the lifestyle she must have lived, surrounded by artist friends who's art she now displayed for the public to enjoy.  But then I walked into a back room, and was blown away by what I felt were the best paintings in the building.  The room was dedicated to the art of Peggy's daughter, Pegeen Vail Guggenheim.

I was intrigued enough to "buy the book" (Pegeen Vail Guggenheim, Life through Art, Sisso Publishing, 2010)  from which the following photos were taken in order to share with you.  (All of the photos in the book and in this blog belong to the private collections of Peggy Guggenheim Collection and other individual private collections)  What I summarize, is just tip of the iceberg (no Titanic puns intended), and I encourage you to learn even more about this woman's fascinating life.

Pegeen was born at the Beau Rivage Hotel in Ouchy-Lusanne, Switzerland into a bohemian, socialite family residing in 1920's Paris.  Her father was writer Lawrence Vail, who was a bit of a man about town, and thus nicknamed "The King of Montparnasse"... The title was apparently hard to be married to, so Peggy had decided to move on...(and it wouldn't be the first time, but I'm not one to point fingers.)

Pegeen spent her youth living in England, France and in the US when her family fled Europe during WWII.  Pegeen's mother, Peggy had several lovers and husbands throughout Pegeen's life, living the true bohemian socialite lifestyle.  Pegeen had to thus get used to accepting different men as her "father", including artist Max Ernst.  Growing up with governesses, an absent mother, and different fathers put a strain on the mother-daughter relationship.  It bordered on rivalry as Pegeen grew into a young woman. 

Pegeen at the Guggenheim Jeune gallery, 1938

Surrounded by art and the artists themselves, Pegeen really didn't have a choice in becoming anything else but a painter...it's what she knew and loved.

Pegeen painting, New York, 1942

Her early inspiration included Native American Kachina dolls, gifts from Ernst's travels, and you can see the influence in her painting's figures.  She was a self taught artist with no formal training. However, she was obviously influenced by the circle of friends her mother kept and surrealist movement going on around her.  She even ended up marrying a french painter, Jean Helion at the end of WWII with whom she moved to Paris and bore 3 sons.  There were other men after Helion, (but who's counting?)...you'll have to read the book.

Untitled, 1946 Private Collection

Pegeen's art is as colorful as it is sentimental.  Her subjects come from real events and people in her life and is packed with symbolism.  Notice how here characters are together, but seem very alone and isolated?  Perhaps not communicating their pain, or maybe just not having anything to say?  

detail from Pegeen - My Wedding 1958

Pegeen - At the Seaside, circa 1950, 1950

detail from Pegeen- In the Park 1953, 1953.

Pegeen stuggled with depression since she was a young girl, and talked openly about and even attempted suicide more than once during her short lifetime before finally succeeding.   

Like most artists, her paintings were her outlet...how she dealt with her emotions in reaction to what was going on with her life at the time.  I can honestly say, I felt it when I walked into the back room containing her paintings...that her happy, naive paintings were expressing something much darker.  

Pegeen posing on a Byzantine throne in the Palazzo garden

Pegeen lived, by anyone's standards, a fascinating life, full of travel, art, great loves, & 4 children.  I tried to summarize her life in a former version of this blog post, but I felt like I was cheating you out of learning the full story.  I also wanted to do right by Pegeen.  I so appreciated her work and what she went through for us to see it, that my attempts at a  summary wasn't doing it justice.  I simply wanted to expose her art and life's story to those of you who may not have heard of her.  I hope I've at least piqued your interest.

In honor of Pegeen Vail Guggenheim, 1925-1967.