One art museum where you can always come to do research for an American history paper is the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. How can this be when the art exhibitions are always changing and there is no guarantee that any of them are necessarily related to American history? This is true because you can write about the museum building, which is an important part of New York’s history. Few museum buildings are art pieces in and of themselves, but the Guggenheim is one of those few. When you study the canon of American architecture it is impossible not to mention a few names, one of them being Frank Lloyd Wright, the architect who masterminded the Guggenheim’s New York home. When asked to build “a temple of spirit for non-objective paintings,” Frank Lloyd Wright built what architectural historian Paul Goldberger has called, a place that “is about movement through space as much as it is about space itself.” Though called many things when it opened in 1959, including a giant toilet bowl, the museum is in fact the youngest New York City landmark. The Guggenheim is considered a great work of modernist architecture, and organic architecture, a style that was famous for sculptured geometric and natural forms and which Wright originated. If you are interested in writing about this great American architectural masterpiece you should (besides visiting the museum and visiting the space yourself) find out what kind of educational programs are being offered about the building and ask about resources on the building in the Education Department which have been put together for students just like you.

The permanent collection does contain work by some famous American artists including Andy Warhol, Carl Andre and Alexander Calder who you can research on the museum’s website as well as the Aye Simon Reading Room within the museum. Unfortunately for your research in American history, the permanent collection of the Guggenheim is mostly 19th and 20th century European. But that doesn’t mean that you won’t find any American artists featured in their rotating exhibits. Au contraire! In fact, in the past, the Guggenheim has exhibited the works of James Rosenquist, a billboard painter who plays with scale, perspective, color and likes to juxtapose images that don’t belong together. One thing that Rosenquist does not have a fear of is using symbols to comment on American history, politics, and policy. His images can be connected to almost any recent American political subject including John F. Kennedy, the Vietnam War, the atomic bomb, the space race, Star Wars, and even everyday objects like telephones and cakes. His style has greatly influenced advertisements today and you can see it when you look at his work. A leader of the Pop Art Movement, Rosenquist used icons of media and advertising to recreate the state of contemporary culture and politics in his artwork. If you don’t find a specific exhibit which is relevant to your research or you’re really not interested in writing about Frank Lloyd Wright, fear not. Just because most of the painters featured by the Guggenheim are not American does not mean that they do not paint about things which affect or include American history. For example, if you wanted to write about the role of women in Western culture in the past two hundred years you could have a field day comparing paintings like Renoir’s Woman with a Parrot (1871) to Pablo Picasso’s Women Ironing (1927) to Lager’s Woman Holding a Vase (1927). In fact, the museum recently looked at how women are represented and which women are represented (rich, middle class, or working poor) in modern art (1880s through World War II). For example, looking at Renoir’s Woman with a Parrot (1871) you might ask yourself if it is really the woman that is in the cage or looking at Picasso’s Women Ironing (1927) it is almost impossible not to notice the strong, exaggerated face and color palette which together make you feel the weight of her burdens.

You should definitely check out the museum’s website. They have a ton of information about the current and past exhibits [http://www.guggenheim.org/exhibitions/index.shtml] as well as pictures from the exhibit that you can save on disk or print. In addition, the website has the most up to date calendar of events [http://www.guggenheim.org/education/tours_lectures.shtml]. You should definitely see what the museum is putting together for you. Events include film screenings, art workshops, classes, tours, and discussions. Performances at the museum this spring will include theater, band, choral, opera, jazz and ballet. Recently the museum put together Animating Pop, a five week digital after-school program for high school students interested in working with a media artist to create digitally enhanced collages on the internet, similar to Rosenquist’s billboards. You never know type of program or event you will come across. Usually events are planned in coordination with the museum’s featured exhibitions. There are some programs you can always depend on, including the gallery tours. And if you can’t make a tour don’t get too disappointed; there are usually free audio guides on each floor to help you navigate your way through the paintings. And as a student, there is one other free thing you’ll really want to know about: free admission (technically pay what you wish) every Friday from 5:45-8pm. You might really want to keep that in mind because admission to the Guggenheim is $10 for students.

In addition to events for individual students, the museum has also put together several classroom materials for teachers who wish to incorporate the museum exhibits and programs into their curriculum. All curriculum materials are free to teachers and include lesson plan ideas. The Guggenheim also offers a program called Tour & Workshop, where a school group will have a tour in the galleries and then participate in an art-making workshop. If you as an individual student are writing about a subject which the education department has developed educational materials for (i.e. Rosenquist or Frank Lloyd Wright), you should ask if the staff at the Sackler Center for Arts Education [http://www.guggenheim.org/education/sackler_center.html] will let you use those materials. Some should be online, but all of them can be found in hardcopy at the Education Center. In the Resource Center in the Sackler Center for Arts Education, there are several books and resources which you can only use in the museum, but which you are welcome to use. If you plan on using the Resource Center, you should make an appointment first by calling or emailing Jessica Wright, the Manager of School Programs at jwright@guggenheim.org or 212-423-3780. Even if you aren’t positive about using the Resource Center, and you just have some research questions, you may also contact her.