Peggy Guggenheim's London gallery explored in new Venice exhibition

The Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice presents 'Peggy Guggenheim a Londra. Nascita di una collezionista', a show dedicated to the collector's early London gallery, Guggenheim Jeune. Active from January 1938 to June 1939, the gallery hosted avant-garde exhibitions that introduced British audiences to abstract and surrealist art. The exhibition features works from that period, including Peggy's first purchase, 'Head and Shell' by Jean Arp, and a painting by her daughter Pegeen Vail. A landmark 1938 solo show of Wassily Kandinsky marked the first such monographic exhibition in the UK, though it failed commercially. Other highlights include an Exhibition of Contemporary Sculpture with Jean Arp, Henry Moore, and Sophie Taeuber-Arp, which drew record attendance but no sales. The show also covers surrealist presentations featuring Charles Howard, Wolfgang Paalen, Yves Tanguy, and Rita Kernn-Larsen, and a 1939 graphic arts exhibition that challenged traditional hierarchies. The exhibition runs until October 18, 2026.