The building of New York’s Guggenheim Museum on 5th Avenue is probably Frank Lloyd Wright’s most famous work. The rounded shapes of the expressive volume are a display of the architect’s ingenuity. Walking up the ascending spirals, visitors can admire works by painters such as Vasily Kandinsky and Paul Gauguin. Particularly impressive is the view from the lower courtyard over six floors of galleries including a skylight. The museum of the wealthy art collector Solomon Guggenheim is not only a place to experience art, but also a temple to Wright’s expressive modernism.
An oasis of abstraction
By the 1940s, the collection of mine magnate Solomon Guggenheim had grown to include so many works of art that the collector began looking for a new, larger building to display his famous works. He was particularly keen to introduce people to the non-objective art of Vasily Kandinsky, Paul Klee and Robert Delunay. Although his collection began with classical paintings, it was the works of the abstract artists that inspired Guggenheim to support and collect art on a larger scale.
The Guggenheim Foundation staff contacted the already highly regarded Frank Lloyd Wright. The architect was not overly pleased with the location of the museum as envisaged by the Guggenheim. According to Wright, New York was a crowded, poorly designed chaos that was not conducive to the architect’s contextualist visions. The situation was somewhat rescued by nearby Central Park, which provided an oasis of nature in an urban maze. Despite the architect’s aversion to the city, design work still began in 1943.
Limited access to building materials due to the war halted the planned construction. Design work continued, but the future of the development seemed uncertain. Moreover, while Wright was constantly refining his idea, Guggenheim’s health declined. In 1949, the architect suggested to the collector that the momentum of the investment be reduced so that the 88-year-old businessman would live to see the work begin. However, Guggenheim stayed with the original concept of a large-scale museum of abstract art. Unfortunately, the collector died later that year.
A difficult collaboration
In a sense, artist, collector and Guggenheim employee Hilla von Rebay was the initiator of the abstract art museum idea. It was she who pushed for Wright to be chosen as the museum’s chief architect. After Guggenheim’s death, Rebay took over the reins at the institution and oversaw the progress of the work. It is worth noting that the foundation’s staff were not fond of the despotic artist, and Wright’s constantly changing concepts did not inspire confidence either.
In time, however, Rebay left the museum director’s foundation, leaving behind a substantial collection of abstract works. The artist disagreed with the rest of the foundation’s board about exhibiting classical works. Such a move meant further changes and delays to Wright’s ever-evolving body of work, and he lost his most loyal advocate at the foundation.
Scepticism towards the architect grew with the next director. James Sweeney believed that art should dictate architecture’s form and purpose. In turn, Wright wanted to continue sculpting in one of the last works of his life. In time, however, the architect was persuaded to design additional offices and rooms to facilitate the museum. By the time construction began in 1956, the design had been modified several more times, and the lack of a coherent vision between the foundation and the architect continually delayed the work. Interestingly, it took Wright almost 13 years to create the museum’s design (including initial concepts).
The spiral set in motion
The expressive form of the facade catches the eye from the street. Two, more complex volumes emerge from a base of gentle shapes. The spiral gallery stands out for its size, while the second lower gallery consists of a glass rotunda and a rectangular terrace canopy. The ivory-coloured facade was covered with layers of injected concrete (shotcrete) and a protective layer of vinyl. However, the plastic coating began to crack and subsequent repairs covered it under layers of increasingly whiter paint. Originally the building was in shades of light brown, but today there is hardly a trace of the former colour.
Wright intended the innovative Guggenheim Museum to offer a completely new way of experiencing art. At the heart of the building was to be a spiral cage that would ‘lead’ visitors through successive rooms. The architect was inspired by the staircase built in the Vatican Museum, which from below resembles a vortex with an opening eye (skylight). Visitors would ascend to the top of the spiral in a lift and then descend through winding galleries. In this way, the architect wanted to draw attention to the art of monumental atrium architecture.
The spiral expands upwards, making it look like a funnel from the side. Wright wanted to encourage visitors to walk around and discover more works. To this end, the paintings and galleries spread out along the cage are meant to ‘tempt’ visitors who see the paintings from opposite parts of the spiral. A monumental skylight named after the Lawson-Johnston family, who support the foundation, also catches the eye. Additional light streams in through the clerestory with small windows framing the top of the atrium. Interestingly, a vertical bulge in the structure conceals lift shafts, stairs and bathrooms.
Form over art
It is also worth noting a certain dissonance between the simplicity of the materials and the complexity of the forms. The winding ramp is made of white-painted concrete, while the terrazzo floor of the stunning atrium has a simple geometric pattern. In contrast, the gallery’s partition walls are made of plywood reinforced with steel and injected concrete. Interestingly, the aforementioned walls are set at a 97-degree angle and the paintings have to be hung on pillars and supports.
The Guggenheim Museum contains many elements typical of Frank Lloyd Wright. Apart from details such as the triangular lamps or the obligatory skylight, the famous architect’s thought can also be seen in the form itself. Most of the solid shapes are rounded and expressive, and the massive ramp sheds new light on the idea of visiting museums. Wright also planned floors in his favourite colour, Cherokee Red, and a marble facade. However, budget cuts forced the architect to use simpler and cheaper materials. You can read more about Wright’s typical architectural touches HERE and HERE.
In addition to the main gallery, the building also contains several smaller exhibition rooms. An important gallery is located in the rooms located in the lower tower protruding from the block. This is where works by Degas, Picasso or Van Gogh donated by the Thannhauser family in the 1960s are exhibited. The German-born wealthy Jews collected Impressionist and abstract works and found a passionate friend with similar interests in the USA. Justin and Hilde Tannhauser donated many valuable works to the museum, which were displayed in the residential part of the building. Wright designed a section of the building called ‘The Monitor’ with offices and flats for Rebay and Guggenheim in mind, but in the 1990s all of this space was converted into an additional gallery.
The completed work
The last decade of the 20th century brought many changes to Wright’s design. The studio Gwathmey Siegel & Associates added a ten-storey annex to the original block. The building housed more offices, studios and flats, and the idea for the extension was taken from Wright’s original plans from the 1950s. The annex had its opponents, who pushed for the museum to be listed as a historic building as soon as possible. In 1990, the Guggenheim Museum became New York’s newest landmark, but despite this status, the annex was added. Architects Gwathmey Siegel also redesigned some of the existing interiors and refurbished the ageing façade. Private businessmen such as Peter B. Lewis, who donated US$10 million to renovate the auditorium beneath the main gallery, also assisted in the museum’s modernisation. The renovated cinema auditorium in the building is named after the generous businessman.
The only museum designed by Frank Lloyd Wright was his last major commission. The architect died in 1959, the year the museum opened on 5th Avenue. The building breaks out of the dense residential development of the street and marks its modern approach to the display of art. In a sense, the Guggenheim Museum is a Lecorbusier-esque touring machine, and the huge spiral in the middle is constantly set in motion by nearly 900,000 visitors each year. This philosophy, together with the stunning paintings and sculptures inside, makes the building a modernist masterpiece of art
Source: Guggenheim
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