Guggenheim Museum
1071 Fifth Avenue
New York
212-423-3500
The Sweeney Decade: Acquisitions
at the 1959 Inaugural
June 5-September 2, 2009

As part of its 50th anniversary celebrations, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum presents The Sweeney Decade: Acquisitions at the 1959 Inaugural, an exhibition featuring a selection of works that were first shown in the Frank Lloyd Wright building in the museum’s 1959 inaugural show. The Sweeney Decade features approximately 30 paintings and sculptures from the 1950s collected during the tenure of the museum’s second director, James Johnson Sweeney (1952-1960). The exhibition illustrates international post-WWII contemporary trends in abstraction, including Abstract Expressionism, CoBrA, Taschisme, and L’Art Informel with works by Karel Appel, Alberto Burri, Eduardo Chillida, Willem de Kooning, Jimmy Ernst, Jackson Pollock, Pierre Soulages, Antoni Tapies, and others.

The exhibition was conceived and organized by Tracey Bashkoff, Associate Curator for Collections and Exhibitions, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. In commenting on the show, Bashkoff said, “Included in the 1959 inaugural exhibition were not only the works the museum was known for, such as Kandinsky, Leger, Delaunay, but also approximately forty works from the 1950s that Sweeney was actively collecting from contemporary artists working in Europe and the US. The Sweeney Decade is essentially what could have been a ‘recent acquisitions’ show in 1959.”

At the Guggenheim Museum’s 1959 inaugural presentation, the Frank Lloyd Wright rotunda was filled with more than 120 works from its collection of modern art as well as a significant group of recently-acquired contemporary works. Highlights included works by American Abstract Expressionist artists such as Jackson Pollock and Franz Kline, as well as those by European artists exploring similar ideas, such as Karel Appel, Hans Hartung, or Pierre Soulages, who may have been lesser known to U.S. audiences.

Even before the opening of the museum’s iconic building, Sweeney was a champion of emerging and younger artists. At the newly named Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, he organized exhibitions dedicated to “younger painters,” a term he used to refer not to age, but to the degree of an artist’s experience. He also established the Guggenheim International Award in 1956, which was given biennially to a painting completed no earlier than three years prior to the award year. Seeking what he called the “ tastebreakers” among artists of his day, he looked to Europe where diverse postwar trends in abstraction proliferated, such as Art Informel, from the French, meaning unformed or formless; CoBrA, derived from the abbreviations of its members’ home cities, Copenhagen, Brussels, and Amsterdam; and Tachism, from the French, meaning stain or spot. Artists Karel Appel, Alberto Burri, Eduardo Chillida, Antoni Tapies, and others broke with traditional composition through gestural and spontaneous means, at times incorporating unconventional materials in their work.

Sweeney also embraced what he called “fresh, unfamiliar concepts of our own”—art by vanguard New York painters such as William Baziotes, James Brooks, Willem de Kooning, and Jackson Pollock. The works of these Abstract Expressionists, who emphasized the emotional aspect of abstraction, pointed to the growing prominence of American artists. He also added sculpture—including a group of important pieces by Constantin Brancusi—to the collection, and, for the first time, works by Asian artists like Takeo Yamaguchi. The current presentation thus represents a selection of the more than 270 works acquired during Sweeney’s eight years as director of the Guggenheim.

Known to be critical of Wright’s building design as well as the efforts of the museum’s first director and his predecessor, Hilla Rebay, Sweeney had the museum’s interior walls painted white (in opposition to Rebay’s preference for fabric covered hanging walls) and removed canvases from their oversized frames. Moreover, the vision that Sweeney presented in the 1959 inaugural exhibition demonstrated the museum’s ability to embrace art that was new and challenging. By including a robust selection of works from the 1950s, made after Solomon R. Guggenheim’s death in 1949, Sweeney, in fact, remained faithful to the museum’s commitment to innovation championed by its founders. As Sweeney once said, “A museum should be a vital organism. . . . It should constantly prod the observer to reach out from the familiar to the unfamiliar.”

In March 1960, months before he resigned from the Guggenheim, Sweeney published an article titled “New Directions in Painting” in the Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism. There he made the case that in contemporary art, constant change should be seen as an assurance of integrity rather than a sign of fickleness, and that it is the “artist’s business” to be original: “Actually, this so-called ‘instability’ in the art of our period is its health. It is the sign of life in it, a sign of that constant urge to refreshment which, only, will keep the language of art alive.”

Karel Appel (1921-2006), Two Heads (Deux têtes), 1953, Oil on canvas, 78-3/4 x 29-1/2", Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 54.1363, © 2009 Karel Appel Foundation/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/Beeldrecht, Amsterdam.

James Johnson Sweeney, 1956, © The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York.

Willem de Kooning (1904-1997), Composition, 1955, Oil, enamel, and charcoal on canvas, 79-1/8 x 69-1/8", Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 55.1419, © 2009 The Willem de Kooning Foundation/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

The inaugural exhibition at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 1959, Photo: Robert E. Mates, © The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York.

Eduardo Chillida (1924-2002), From Within (Desde dentro), March 1953, Iron, 38-3/4" high, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 58.1504, © 2009 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VEGAP, Madrid.

Frank Lloyd Wright, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1943-59, Ink and pencil on trace, 20 x 24", The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, © FLWrightFDN, Scottsdale, AZ.

Frank Lloyd Wright, Crystal Heights, Washington, D.C, 1940 View (project), Ink on paper, 31 x 35", The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, © FLWrightFDN, Scottsdale, AZ.

Frank Lloyd Wright during construction of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1959, Photograph by David Wheatley.

Frank Lloyd Wright, Theater for San Diego, California, 1915 (unbuilt project), Watercolor and watercolor wash on art paper, 19 x 14-¾", The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, © FLWrightFDN, Scottsdale, AZ.

Guggenheim Museum
1071 Fifth Avenue
New York
212-423-3500
Frank Lloyd Wright
May 15-August 23, 2009

Fifty years after the completion of Frank Lloyd Wright’s most iconic work, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum celebrates the golden anniversary of its landmark building with the exhibition Frank Lloyd Wright. The exhibition examines Wright’s vision for harmonious living through inventive spatial constructions designed to stimulate social engagement and integration with the natural world. Frank Lloyd Wright is co-organized by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, which owns and operates the Frank Lloyd Wright Archives, the primary source of loans to the exhibition.

Regarded as the most influential American architect of the 20th century, Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959) is best known for his ability to organically unite people, buildings, and nature. His innovative designs are continually referenced in contemporary architecture. Presenting over 50 of Wright’s projects, from privately commissioned homes to unrealized urban mega-structures, the exhibition examines Wright’s oeuvre as an “architecture of democracy” that constructs and encourages social interaction. Furthermore, the exhibition reveals the spirituality and idealism of Wright’s projects, conceived and constructed in harmony and balance with the natural world. This presentation of Wright’s visionary work, culminating with the Guggenheim’s famed rotunda, aims to inspire visitors to contemplate architecture as an extension of daily life.

The exhibition is curated by Thomas Krens, Director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, in collaboration with Philip Allsopp, President and CEO of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation; Bruce Brooks Pfeiffer, Director of the Frank Lloyd Wright Archives; Oskar Muñoz, Assistant Director of the Frank Lloyd Wright Archives; and Margo Stipe, Curator and Registrar of Collections of the Frank Lloyd Wright Archives.

Frank Lloyd Wright is presented through a range of media including over 200 original drawings; newly commissioned and historic models; photography, including new, large-scale formats shot for the exhibition and catalogue; and related books, periodicals, correspondence, and ephemera. In addition, video and digital renderings further acquaint contemporary audiences with Wright’s timeless ideals. Numerous works from the archives of both the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, including newly framed original drawings, are on view to the public for the first time. An audio tour of the exhibition incorporates architectural features of the Guggenheim, emphasizing the unique experience of Wright’s masterpiece in relation to his complete body of work.

Frank Lloyd Wright is organized as an overview of Wright’s work through the seven decades of his career, progressing up the museum’s spiral ramp and extending into its adjacent Tower galleries. Through extensive materials on view, the exhibition highlights the extraordinary architecture of the Guggenheim and focuses on another eight of Wright’s projects that clearly addressed the quality of social engagement within various community structures: Unity Temple, Oak Park, Illinois (1905); Taliesin, Wright’s private home and studio, Spring Green, Wisconsin (1911-1925); Gordon Strong Automobile Objective, Sugarloaf Mountain, Maryland (1925); S.C. Johnson and Son, Inc., Administration Building and Research Tower, Racine, Wisconsin (1936, 1944); Herbert Jacobs House, Madison, Wisconsin (1937); Crystal Heights, Washington, D.C. (1940); Pittsburgh Point Civic Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (1947); and Plan for Greater Baghdad, Baghdad, Iraq (1957).

Fifty years after Wright’s death and the completion of the Guggenheim Museum, the cultural showpiece has just completed a comprehensive condition assessment and restoration in preparation for its 50th anniversary celebration in 2009. The Wright building has been declared a landmark by the New York City Landmark Preservation Commission (1990) and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (2005). In 2007, the Landmarks Committee of the National Parks System Advisory Board--a body of historians, preservationists, historical architects, archaeologists — recommended to the Secretary of Interior that the Guggenheim be designated a National Historic Landmark. UNESCO World Heritage Center also is considering Wright’s legacy: ten of the architect’s most relevant buildings, including the Guggenheim, Taliesin and Taliesin West, his private home and studio in Scottsdale, Arizona, have recently been included on the United States’ tentative World Heritage List, which identifies the most significant cultural and natural treasures worldwide.

Frank Lloyd Wright is accompanied by a fully illustrated exhibition catalogue. With forewords by Thomas Krens and Phil Allsopp, the catalogue includes essays by Bruce Brooks Pfeiffer and Margo Stipe and Wright scholars Richard Cleary, Neil Levine, Mina Marefat, and Joseph Siry, exploring Wright’s focus on sociability.