Hampshire &amp; Isle of Wight

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1500" height="1481" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/hants/wp-content/uploads/sites/17/2024/06/Peggy-Guggenheim-with-her-dogs-venice.jpg" alt="Peggy Guggenheim photographed with her Lhasa Apsos terriers in Venice at Palazzo Venier dei Leoni. Petersfield to Palazzo exhibition, Petersfield Museum Hampshire." class="wp-image-34167" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/hants/wp-content/uploads/sites/17/2024/06/Peggy-Guggenheim-with-her-dogs-venice.jpg 1500w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/hants/wp-content/uploads/sites/17/2024/06/Peggy-Guggenheim-with-her-dogs-venice-800x790.jpg 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/hants/wp-content/uploads/sites/17/2024/06/Peggy-Guggenheim-with-her-dogs-venice-1000x987.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/hants/wp-content/uploads/sites/17/2024/06/Peggy-Guggenheim-with-her-dogs-venice-768x758.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Peggy Guggenheim pictured with her beloved Lhasa Apsos terriers beside the Grand Canal</figcaption></figure>



The Guggenheim name is synonymous with New York, Bilbao and Venice. But not historically, the East Hampshire market town of Petersfield. Curated by the Petersfield Museum and running until 5 October, the new exhibition Peggy Guggenheim: Petersfield to Palazzo shines a light on the life of a very extraordinary lady and her fascinating local links.



A celebrated art patron, collector and gallerist at the centre of the 20th-century art scene, before amassing her renowned collection Peggy Guggenheim lived at Yew Tree Cottage near Petersfield from 1934-1939. Before that, she rented Warblington Castle, near Langstone. 



Brought here through her love affair with publisher Douglas Garman, as her children attended local schools, Peggy sought a new sense of purpose through the burgeoning and exciting era of contemporary art.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-international-art-scene">International art scene</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1500" height="1908" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/hants/wp-content/uploads/sites/17/2024/06/Peggy-Guggenheim.Venice-min.jpg" alt="Peggy Guggenheim art collector patron in her gallery Venice" class="wp-image-34165" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/hants/wp-content/uploads/sites/17/2024/06/Peggy-Guggenheim.Venice-min.jpg 1500w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/hants/wp-content/uploads/sites/17/2024/06/Peggy-Guggenheim.Venice-min-629x800.jpg 629w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/hants/wp-content/uploads/sites/17/2024/06/Peggy-Guggenheim.Venice-min-786x1000.jpg 786w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/hants/wp-content/uploads/sites/17/2024/06/Peggy-Guggenheim.Venice-min-768x977.jpg 768w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/hants/wp-content/uploads/sites/17/2024/06/Peggy-Guggenheim.Venice-min-1208x1536.jpg 1208w" sizes="(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px" /></figure>



Financially independent from age 21, Peggy inherited her share of the family fortune after her father, Benjamin Guggenheim, died during the Titanic’s doomed maiden voyage from England to the United States in 1912. In 1930, she opened Guggenheim Jeune, an art gallery in London. In doing so, she began a career that would significantly influence the course of art in the second half of the 20th century, a trailblazer in her taste and support for contemporary artists.



In August 1939, her relationship with Garman over and war looming, Guggenheim set off for Paris on her mission to “buy a picture a day”. Forced to leave during the war, in 1941 she returned to New York for a few years (1942-1947) before making Palazzo Venier dei Leoni, overlooking the Grand Canal, her home for the following thirty years. 



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1500" height="1021" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/hants/wp-content/uploads/sites/17/2024/06/Henry-Moore.Reclining-Figure-min.jpg" alt="Henry-Moore.Reclining-Figure" class="wp-image-34161" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/hants/wp-content/uploads/sites/17/2024/06/Henry-Moore.Reclining-Figure-min.jpg 1500w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/hants/wp-content/uploads/sites/17/2024/06/Henry-Moore.Reclining-Figure-min-800x545.jpg 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/hants/wp-content/uploads/sites/17/2024/06/Henry-Moore.Reclining-Figure-min-1000x681.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/hants/wp-content/uploads/sites/17/2024/06/Henry-Moore.Reclining-Figure-min-768x523.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px" /></figure>



As well as bringing to life Peggy Guggenheim’s self-described “domestic years”, Petersfield Museum and Art Gallery has curated a collection of paintings and sculptures by leading British and European modern artists including Henry Moore (1898-1986), Yves Tanguy (1900-1955), Max Ernst (1891-1976), Jean Arp (1886-1966) and John Tunnard (1900-1971) among others.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1500" height="1125" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/hants/wp-content/uploads/sites/17/2024/06/Peggy-Guggenheim-moths-pic.jpg" alt="Roland Penrose Magnetic Moths" class="wp-image-34164" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/hants/wp-content/uploads/sites/17/2024/06/Peggy-Guggenheim-moths-pic.jpg 1500w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/hants/wp-content/uploads/sites/17/2024/06/Peggy-Guggenheim-moths-pic-800x600.jpg 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/hants/wp-content/uploads/sites/17/2024/06/Peggy-Guggenheim-moths-pic-1000x750.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/hants/wp-content/uploads/sites/17/2024/06/Peggy-Guggenheim-moths-pic-768x576.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px" /></figure>



Photographs, contemporary fashion including hand-crafted rings and earrings and literature also give insight into the fascinating life and times of this extraordinary lady and the many literary, artistic and intellectual figures of the period she mixed with. 



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1500" height="1591" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/hants/wp-content/uploads/sites/17/2024/06/Peggy-Guggenheim.-Earrings_Yves-Tanguy-min.jpg" alt="Peggy Guggenheim photographed wearing Yves Tanguay earrings. Petersfield to Palazzo Petersfield Museum exhibition." class="wp-image-34162" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/hants/wp-content/uploads/sites/17/2024/06/Peggy-Guggenheim.-Earrings_Yves-Tanguy-min.jpg 1500w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/hants/wp-content/uploads/sites/17/2024/06/Peggy-Guggenheim.-Earrings_Yves-Tanguy-min-754x800.jpg 754w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/hants/wp-content/uploads/sites/17/2024/06/Peggy-Guggenheim.-Earrings_Yves-Tanguy-min-943x1000.jpg 943w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/hants/wp-content/uploads/sites/17/2024/06/Peggy-Guggenheim.-Earrings_Yves-Tanguy-min-768x815.jpg 768w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/hants/wp-content/uploads/sites/17/2024/06/Peggy-Guggenheim.-Earrings_Yves-Tanguy-min-1448x1536.jpg 1448w" sizes="(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px" /></figure>



In all, the exhibition includes 15 works and archival material from the Peggy Guggenheim Collection Venice, as well as loans from the Tate, The Hepworth Wakefield, Farleys House &amp; Gallery, National Trust, Bristol Museum &amp; Art Gallery and more.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-petersfield-personality">Petersfield personality</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1500" height="1721" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/hants/wp-content/uploads/sites/17/2024/05/Peggy-Guggenheimn.jpg" alt="Peggy Guggenheim photographed in Venice. Petersfield to Palazzo Petersfield Museum exhibition." class="wp-image-33978" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/hants/wp-content/uploads/sites/17/2024/05/Peggy-Guggenheimn.jpg 1500w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/hants/wp-content/uploads/sites/17/2024/05/Peggy-Guggenheimn-697x800.jpg 697w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/hants/wp-content/uploads/sites/17/2024/05/Peggy-Guggenheimn-872x1000.jpg 872w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/hants/wp-content/uploads/sites/17/2024/05/Peggy-Guggenheimn-768x881.jpg 768w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/hants/wp-content/uploads/sites/17/2024/05/Peggy-Guggenheimn-1339x1536.jpg 1339w" sizes="(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px" /></figure>



Walking me through the collection, Louise Weller, Head of Collections and Exhibitions at Petersfield Museum and Art Gallery says: “The exhibition is the unknown story of a very public figure. The more we researched, the more we kept teasing connections together.&#8221; 



A delve through the archive and the former Police Station and Court museum’s own records even revealed a brush with the law as ‘Marguerite Guggenheim’ [Peggy] is reported as having been fined £1 for driving with an expired license. 



She must have been something of a curiosity, Weller muses, driving into town several times a day to pick up shopping – “as I always forgot something.” 



Along with the impressive loans and literature, Petersfield Museum&#8217;s Peggy Guggenheim: Petersfield to Palazzo exhibition includes a short video montage taking visitors from sweeping views of the South Downs to the Grand Canals of Venice. 



There are also deckchairs in the museum courtyard to languish on for anyone keen to recreate Peggy&#8217;s iconic pose (or just sit and enjoy a coffee). And in the shop, pick up a pair of Peggy-style earrings handmade by ethical jewellery brand Just Trade, or Palazzo blend coffee hand roasted in Hampshire.



Peggy Guggenheim never returned to Yew Tree Cottage but her time in the beautiful South Downs clearly left a lasting impression. At home in Venice, late in life, she said: “If I didn’t live here I would live in the English countryside.”



See <a href="https://www.petersfieldmuseum.co.uk/events/peggy-guggenheim-petersfield-palazzo" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Peggy Guggenheim: Petersfield to Palazzo</a> at the&nbsp;Petersfield Museum and Art Gallery until 5 October 2024.

Exhibition – Peggy Guggenheim: Petersfield to Palazzo

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