Philip Rylands Reflects on 36 Years Leading Peggy Guggenheim Collection
Philip Rylands, outgoing director of the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice, recounts his career from 1980 to 2016. Hired after Peggy's death in 1979, he transformed her dilapidated palazzo into a modern museum, starting with a conservation survey in 1980-81. He oversaw expansions including a café-restaurant in 1995, six sculpture gardens, and educational programs like 'A Scuola di Guggenheim' reaching 1.4 million children. Rylands also discussed the failed attempt to secure Punta della Dogana for a Guggenheim museum in the 1990s, which later became François Pinault's venue. He praised private foundations for boosting contemporary art in Venice but noted the city's weak local art scene. His successor will be chosen soon.
Key facts
- Philip Rylands became director of the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in 2000, having joined as administrator in 1980.
- Peggy Guggenheim died in December 1979, leaving the palazzo and collection to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation.
- Rylands conducted the first conservation survey of all works in 1980-81.
- In 1995, the museum opened the first café-restaurant in an Italian museum.
- The museum now has six sculpture gardens, two shops, and temporary exhibition spaces.
- Rylands was involved in a failed attempt to turn Punta della Dogana into a Guggenheim museum in the 1990s.
- The educational program 'A Scuola di Guggenheim' involved 1.4 million children in partnership with OVS.
- Rylands has no immediate plans after stepping down but intends to stay in Venice.
Entities
Artists
- Philip Rylands
- Peggy Guggenheim
- Sindbad Guggenheim
- Thomas Messer
- Thomas Krens
- Giorgio Busetto
- Alessandro D'Urso
- Mario D'Urso
- Francine Prose
- Lisa Vreeland
- Richard Armstrong
- Arianna Testino
Institutions
- Peggy Guggenheim Collection
- Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation
- Fondazione Levi
- Yale University Press
- Fondazione Pinault
- Fondazione Prada
- Fondazione Vedova
- Espace Vuitton
- OVS
- Artribune
- Guggenheim Foundation
- Biennale di Venezia
- IUAV
Locations
- Venice
- Italy
- New York
- Camposampiero
- Punta della Dogana
- Berlin
- Bilbao
- Las Vegas
- Soho
- Venezia
- Palazzo Venier dei Leoni
- Genova
- Bologna