From Cézanne to Braque, the Thannhauser Collection forms the core of
the Guggenheim's early modernist holdings
When Justin K. Thannhauser (1892-1976) brought his collection of modern
art to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in 1965, it was his crowning
achievement after more than a half-century as one of Europe's most
influential and distinguished collectors and dealers. The collection's
formal bequeathal to the Guggenheim in 1978 represents a watershed
moment for the museum--today its Thannhauser Collection constitutes the
core of the Guggenheim's impressionist, postimpressionist, and School of
Paris holdings, including 32 works by Pablo Picasso.
This volume presents the astonishing collection in full, offering a
concentrated survey of works by such modern masters as Braque, Cézanne,
Degas, Gauguin, Manet, Picasso, Pissarro and Van Gogh, among others.
Throughout, artworks are given rich context and detail with historical
installation views and high-tech conservation images. Short essays on
collection highlights by current and former Guggenheim curators and
conservators illuminate the artists' stylistic innovations as they
sought to liberate art from academic genres and techniques. The book
also features extensive technical analyses, offering rare insight into
the artists' materials and processes based on the latest advances in
conservation technology. A lead essay by Megan Fontanella recounts the
genesis of Thannhauser's collection and its eventual transfer to the
Guggenheim Museum. Tracing his ambitious career as gallerist and
collector in Europe during the interwar years and into the calamity of
World War II, she explores how Thannhauser's lifelong support for
experimental art and eye for original talent helped define the modernist
vanguard of 20th-century art.
