Customer Reviews

Growing Up Guggenheim: A Personal History of a Family Enterprise

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This is a wonderful tell all story about one of the most prestigious families in the United States told by a Guggenheim descendant who has been at the helm of the family empire for several decades. It is a historical biography of his family. The chapters on the Guggenheim Museum provide tremendous insight into the creation of the world wide Guggenheim Museum franchise. I enjoyed the chapter on Peggy Guggenheim the most. One learns how she dropped out of the family mainstream to amass a priceless art fortune in Venice Italy which she ultimately bequeathed to the Guggenheim Foundation. I highly recommend this book.

The author is a Guggenheim himself and the board president who saw the museum changed from a local New York institution to a world-wide art venture: his background lends an insider's eye and appreciation to GROWING UP GUGGENHEIM: A PERSONAL HISTORY OF A FAMILY ENTERPRISE. His accounts of his grandfather Solomon Guggenheim begins with the museum's founder's achievements and family interactions and tells stories of the institution's evolution within and outside the family. His memoirs of personalities over the decades, controversies which affected its efforts to expand, and the author's own career makes for a colorful series of vignettes which come packed with business financials, insights, and art history. A 'must' for any who would understand the Guggenheim enterprise.

An account of a life of privilege rendered with humility and honesty that leaves the reader wanting to meet the author.

PETER LAWSON-JOHNSON HAS CRAFTED A VERY MEMORABLE MEMOIR, WHICH CAN BE ENJOYED BY ART (AND NON-)PATRONS ALIKE WITH EXAMPLES OF SOME WONDERFUL GUGGENHEIM WORKS WITHIN ITS PAGES.....WHAT A TREAT!