The foundation has been laid by no less than the Bellagio Art Gallery, the Gugggenheim Hermitage collaboration and the Wynn Collection.
The Bellagio Art was launched five years ago and has since presented rotating art exhibitions. Its current presentation, "Andy Warhol: The Celebrity Portraits", runs through September 7, 2003. The show features fifty masterworks by the man who made Campbell's soup cans famous. Liza Minelli, a personal friend of the artist, narrates the audio guide, sharing interesting details and stories leading to the creation of each canvas.
While vibrant colors and repetition of images define Andy Warhol's style, he introduces variations to convey the personalities of his subjects. The portrait of the choreographer, Martha Graham, sparkles with diamond dust, reminiscent of a shining star. In the Versace portrait, the artist has chosen a gold background for a rich finish to complement Versace's personality.
The formidable partnership of the Guggenheim Foundation and the State Hermitage Museum of St. Persburg is a big boost for the arts scene in Las Vegas. The Guggenheim Hermitage was established to make the collections of both museums accessible to larger audiences through the presentation of joint art exhibitions and educational programs. It is managed and operated by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation which operates museums in New York, Venice, Bilbao and Berlin.
The recently concluded "Art through the Ages: Masterpieces of Painting from Titian to Picasso", is confirmation that a powerful alliance such as the Guggenheim Hermitage can present a comprehensive show by sharing its resources. This successful retrospective of Western art covering six centuries included paintings from the Kunsthistoriches Museum in Vienna like the portrait of the young Prince Prosper by the Spanish master, Diego Velasquez.
A new and exciting exhibit, "American Pop Icons", runs through November 2, 2003 at the Guggenheim Hermitage. It consists of 28 works tracing the beginnings of the Pop art movement through more contemporary examples. Works by eight of the most recognized Pop artists and their precursors are on view including Robert Rauschenberg, Roy Lichtenstein, and Andy Warhol. This show complements the current Warhol exhibitionn at the Bellagio Art Gallery.
The Wynn Collection at the former Desert Inn is a tour de force of twelve paintings, the focal point of which is Le Reve. (This is also the name of a new $2 billion hotel rising on the Strip and slated to open in 2005.) Imagine paintings by Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cezanne, Matisse, Modigliani, Manet, Pisarro, Picasso and Warhol all sharing a cozy gallery. The high quality of the collection compensates for what it lacks in numbers. This is a case of "less is more". Steve Wynn himself narrates the audio guide.
Egyptian art represents some of our oldest surviving art treasures. The discovery of Tutankhamen's tomb in 1922 by British archeologist, Howard Carter, uncovered precious objects like his death mask, cached for thousands of years in the Valley of the Kings. Items found in the tomb including furniture, jewelry, pottery, baskets and statues were painstakingly copied for display at King Tut's Museum in the Luxor Hotel. The self-guided tour takes just fifteen minutes. Bring the kids.
For the arts scene to fluorish, it will need to be nurtured. Art exhibitions are expensive to mount and museums are experiencing budget crunches. With 35 million visitors to Las Vegas spending approximately $31.5 billion*, the city can well afford to support world-class art exhibitions. (*Source: Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority - Visitor Statistics for 2002).
But is Las Vegas interested in committing its resources to support the arts? Let's hope the odds are good in favor of making the "dream" a reality.
