This year the Peggy Guggenheim Collection proposes a very well-structured expositive project with three prestigious exhibitions dedicated to the Pollock brothers, Jackson and Charles.
During the year of Expo Milano 2015, in a moment in which not only Milan, but the whole Italy is the focus of world attention, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection gives the unique chance to approach the beating heart of the American abstract expressionism thanks to a unique European preview.
Starting from April 23rd it is possible to admire the first retrospective ever dedicated to the works of Charles Pollock, and the great Jackson Pollock’s Mural. For the first time it has crossed the ocean to reach the Laguna, core point of the Exhibition. Energy made visible. The year dedicated to the Pollocks started on February 14th, with the presentation of “Voyage inside the Matter. Alchemy”: the undisputed masterpiece by jackson Pollock “has came back home” after over a year of stay at The Opicifio delle Pietre Dure in Florence.
Three exhibitions, three patterns, three unique and suprising moments originated in New York, at the beginning of the 40ies, when Peggy opens her gallery-museum Art of This Century. Here she exhibits the artists of the News York school, the future American abstracts expressionists, and among them all she recognizes the absolute genius of Jackson Pollock. Fascinated by his talent she supports him and promotes his work, influencing in this way the trends of new American and International art, and the course of the XXth century history of art. In 1943 Peggy commisions a huge Mural to the young artist, the biggest work he ever realized. Soon the evolution of his painting through the tecnique of dripping, messes the standards of the times. At the end of the 40ies, Peggy carries with her the works of Pollock, together with the awareness of having exported something completely new.
“Peggy thought that the launch of Pollock’s career was the greatest result of her life” – Lee Krasner
February 14th, 2015. After over one year and a half of absence and after having been the object of a very important study and conservation at Opificio delle Pietre Dure in Florence, Alchemy is back to the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, where it belongs, focus of the scientific exhibition Alchemy by Jackson Pollock. Voyage inside the matter, in charge of Luciano Pensabene Buemi, Curator of the museum and Roberto Bellucci, Officer Restorer of Opificio delle Pietre Dure in Florence.
The exhibition is the first important result of a wider project of study and conservation dedicated to ten Pollock’s works, all realized among 1942 an 1947, belonging to the Peggy Guggenheim Collection. Peggy, patron of the American artist, took the paintings over and exhibited them in Art of this Century, her gallery in New York, during the 40ies.
It is in this project that Alchemy has been moved to Laboratorio Dipinti of the Opificio delle Pietre Dure in Florence, exposed to an accurate analitic and conservative study and here, in 2014, every technical feature of the painting has been exhaminated by a team of over fifty academics, scientists and curators coming from many Italian scientific institutes involved in conservation of cultural heritage. The team has incessantly worked on Alchemy, with the enthusiasm of approaching for the first time such a great masterpiece of art. The intervention has been executed by Luciano Pensabene Buemi, Curator of Peggy Guggenheim Collection together with Francesca Bettini, Restorer Settore Dipinti in Opificio delle Pietre Dure. The contribution of Carol Stringary Deputy- Director and Chief Conservator of the Guggenheim Foundation in New York and Gillian Mc Millan, Associate Chief Conservator For The Collection, Guggenheim Museum, have been essential, toghether with the precious help of Laboratorio Dipinti of the Opificio delle Pietre Dure in Florence.
PHOTO CREDITS
Cover Photo:
PH Francesca Bottazzin
1.
Jackson Pollock, Alchimia (Alchemy), 1947, olio, pittura d’alluminio (e smalto?) e spago su tela, 114,6 x 221,3 cm. Collezione Peggy Guggenheim, Venezia
Jackson Pollock, Alchemy, 1947. Oil, aluminum (and enamel?) paint, and string on canvas, 114.6 x 221.3 cm. Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice
2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12.
Alchimia all’Opificio delle Pietre Dure di Firenze. Foto Opificio delle Pietre Dure
Alchemy at the Opificio delle Pietre Dure, Florence. Photo Opificio delle Pietre Dure
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