Peggy Guggenheim - Infinite Women

This bio has been republished from Mina Loy: Navigating the Avant-Garde. See below for full attribution.

Born: 26 August 1898, United States
Died: 23 December 1979
Country most active: International
Also known as: NA

Peggy Guggenheim was born on August 26, 1898 to Florette Seligman and Benjamin Guggenheim in New York City. In 1920 she traveled to Paris where she met her future husband poet Laurence Vail and was introduced to the avant-garde world. She and Vail married in 1922 and had two children, Michael Cedric Sinbad and Pegeen (Dearborn 49). Though she and Vail divorced in 1928, Guggenheim gained a keen interest in art and opened her first gallery, the Guggenheim Jeune, in London in 1938. Though the gallery was only open for two years, it established Guggenheim as a figure of prominence in the modern art world. In 1941, Guggenheim married painter Max Ernst. After fleeing Nazi France in 1942, she opened the gallery Art of This Century in New York City (Robson). In 1943, Guggenheim held the first collection of the soon to be star of her gallery, Jackson Pollock. After her marriage with Ernst ended in 1946, Guggenheim returned to Venice, Italy, where she remained until her death on December 23, 1979.
Peggy Guggenheim first met Mina Loy in Villerville, France in the summer of 1923. Guggenheim was staying in the villa of Guggenheim’s first husband Laurence Vail, who had invited many members of the avant-garde to stay for the summer. Even though Loy was sixteen years her senior, they developed a close friendship. After this meeting in 1923, Loy approached Guggenheim with the idea of an artistic lampshade business. Guggenheim backed Loy financially and the two ran a successful shop. They can be seen together in the famous photograph where they are standing in front of their lamps in 1926 (Vogue Italia). However, Loy ended up in massive debt to Guggenheim and the stress of their relationship nearly drove Loy “to suicide,” as she later said (Burke). Loy and Guggenheim later crossed paths in New York between 1941 and 1946, where Guggenheim bought one of Loy’s Richard Oleze drawings. Loy occasionally attended parties held by Guggenheim and the two remained friends until Guggenheim moved to Europe in 1947.