Guggenheim, Bilbao

Guggenheim: That name should instantly conjure an image of Frank Lloyd Wright’s masterpiece of modernist architecture on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. Opening in 1959 after fifteen years of planning it was met with both praise and condemnation. Now it is considered the most important work of art in the museum’s vast collection.

Stunning architecture that it is, the building has never been a very good place to view art. Wright’s design delivers the viewer, by elevator, to the top of the structure where you descend via a spiraling ramp viewing work that hangs on the outside walls. This extraordinary concept has made for some mediocre installations over the building’s fifty plus years.

Before the museum opened twenty-one artists including Robert Rauschenberg and Wassily Kandinsky objected to having their work shown in this venue. It may detract from the art but my experience has been that the museum is always a great pleasure to visit.

Iconic architecture is now synonymous with the Guggenheim foundation whose collections around the world are displayed in several spectacular structures. The largest of their museums is currently under construction in Abu Dhabi. Enclosing over 450,000 square feet of space, the stunning sculptural structure was designed by Frank Gehry and is scheduled to open in 2013.

Frank Gehry, architect extraordinaire, now 82, has built incredible free form designs all over the world. They are unmistakable, partly because they are often designed using sheets of paper and scotch tape to create flowing irregular shapes that were impossible prior to the use of computer aided design.

The Guggenheim Bilbao is Gehry’s tour de force and is widely agreed to be one of the most important works of architecture in the modern era. It shares the unhappy tendency that the New York museum has of overpowering any work of art displayed within it. Dedicated in 1997, the building has transformed Bilbao and is now the centerpiece of the Basque region of Spain. Located along the Nervion River, its undulations are a sheer delight to anyone who sees them.

Beautiful limestone walkways lead around the building and its huge reflecting pool. Every step offers a whole new look as the shapes are revealed. They suggest that the behemoth is growing out of the ground and might transform right before your eyes. It is elastic, fluid and barely holds still.

The interior of the Guggenheim Bilbao is equally as interesting as its exterior. One would think, looking at the outside that the building would be completely dysfunctional (I am sure it has its challenges) but wending your way through interiors is an awe-inspiring adventure. The atrium leaps above you with wonderful white forms, sheets of glass and catwalks that carry patrons from gallery to gallery.

Serra uses a similar technique to Gehry’s, crafting maquettes from paper that are duplicated in massive steel sheets using ship building techniques. The result is an impressive maze-like walk-through that seems to delight those who see it. There are so many of these sculptures that the effect wanes toward the end, however. They might have heeded the adage that ‘less is more’ and reserved some of this fabulously expensive space for one or two other artists.

Bilbao is a beautiful city that is throwing off the trappings of its industrial past and emerging as a Basque gem. The river flowing through its heart features, in addition to the museum, a spectacular Calatrava designed footbridge that connects the urban core with the pretty residential sector lining the opposite bank.

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation was founded in 1937; its exhibition space was known as The Museum of Non-Objective Art (1939). Solomon Guggenheim (1861-1949) was the heir to a mining and smelting fortune and had been collecting art for many years prior to establishing the foundation. Continuing to acquire works since its inception, the foundation has amassed a vast collection of art.

Peggy Guggenheim (1898-1979), Solomon’s niece, was an avid friend and collector of many of the biggest names in 20^th Century art. When she was fourteen her father died in the Titanic disaster leading to her inheritance of two and a half million dollars when she turned twenty one. This was a paltry fortune compared with her Uncle’s but she dedicated herself to art and moved to Paris in the Twenties eventually becoming friends with dozens of the artists of her day. She opened a gallery in London and eventually moved to Venice. In 1979 she donated her home on the Grand Canal that is now the setting for the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice.

This too is a spectacular museum, not because of its architecture but due to the quality of its collection. Peggy had an uncanny ability to identify and acquire the best works of those artists she was acquainted with. Many of these masterpieces hang in her former home just as they did when she lived there. Any devotee of modern art should make a pilgrimage to this extraordinary museum.

The Guggenheim Foundation considers its collection to be central to its mission; the museums as a means of presentation. The collection is actually a group of major collections and continues to grow including:

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Founding Collection
The Peggy Guggenheim Collection
The Thanhauser Collection (Impressionism & Post Impressionism, etc.)
The Count Giuseppe Panza Collection (Minimalist, Post-Minimalist, Conceptual)
The Kari Nierendorf Collection (Expressionism, Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism)
Other significant bequests include those from Katherine S. Drier, Hillay Rebay, The Mapplethorpe Foundation and the Bohen Foundation.

Interestingly the Guggenheim does not segment with regard to period or medium, preferring to curate the collection as a whole. Their stewardship portends great things for the viewing public of the future.

	On The Road With Michael Shewmaker
	Guggenheim Bilbao