Peggy Guggenheim's London Years Explored in New Exhibition

The Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice presents 'Peggy Guggenheim a Londra. Nascita di una collezionista', focusing on her formative period in London and her first gallery, Guggenheim Jeune. Curated by Gražina Subelytė and Simon Grant, the exhibition examines her early years as a precursor to her role as a 20th-century art patron. Active from January 1938 to June 1939, Guggenheim Jeune promoted abstraction and Surrealism, with Marcel Duchamp as a key figure. The gallery hosted over twenty shows, including the UK's first solo exhibition of Vasily Kandinsky. Peggy began collecting with Jean (Hans) Arp's 'Testa e conchiglia' (1933), encouraged by Samuel Beckett. The exhibition features works by Max Ernst, René Magritte, André Masson, Joan Miró, Marie Vassilieff, Charles Howard, Heinz Henghes, and others. It highlights Cedric Morris's portraits, Gisèle Freund's color photographic portraits, and the 'Abstract and Concrete Art' show with Mondrian, Taeuber-Arp, and Van Doesburg. The display includes sculptures by Constantin Brancusi and Henry Moore, reflecting the gallery's program.