Guggenheim 60: a typographic ode to the museum's milestone anniversary

21 Nov / 2019 / Scanner /

Founded back in 1937 the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and its first New York-based venue for the display of art, the Museum of Non-Objective Painting, opened in 1939.

With its exhibitions of Solomon Guggenheim’s somewhat eccentric art collection, the unusual gallery—designed by William Muschenheim at the behest of Hilla Rebay, the foundation’s curator and the museum’s director—provided many visitors with their first encounter with great works by Vasily Kandinsky, as well as works by his followers, including Rudolf Bauer, Alice Mason, Otto Nebel, and Rolph Scarlett.

The need for a permanent building to house Guggenheim’s art collection became evident in the early 1940s, and in 1943 renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright gained the commission to design a museum in New York City.

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum opened it's doors to the public on October 21, 1959, and 2019 sees the 60th celebration of the museum as an architectural icon and “temple of spirit” where radical art and architecture meet.

Dedicated to promoting the understanding and appreciation of modern and contemporary art through exhibitions, education programs, research initiatives, and publications the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation has built an international constellation of museums aka the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice; the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao; and the future Guggenheim Abu Dhabi.

To celebrate the milestone Typeroom delves into the museum's treasury to rediscover artist interventions for a typographic-infused ode to Wright's spiral of knowledge and shrine of art.

#WorkoftheWeek: “TO THE SEA / ON THE SEA / FROM THE SEA / AT THE SEA / BORDERING THE SEA” (1970) is an example of Lawrence Weiner’s sculpture which uses language itself as a medium. pic.twitter.com/j65cyL7MDq
— Guggenheim Museum (@Guggenheim) October 13, 2019