Peggy Guggenheim

To the Editors:
The history of art collecting in the past five centuries should leave no one bemused as to the sort of individuals who trafficked in the sale and purchase of art. Peggy Guggenheim was no exception; for a relatively small amount of money, she acquired holdings now worth millions. She was not guided in this by either taste or understanding. Some collectors are very lucky; Peggy Guggenheim was one of them.

Hilton Kramer’s reflections on Jacqueline Weld’s biography, Peggy: The Wayward Guggenheim, in your April issue gives the impression that Mrs. Weld does little to evaluate the collection. Quite unfairly, he compares this book with Angelica Rudenstine’s catalogue raisonné, a work of first-class documentation, a splendid achievement. However, it is to be remembered that the catalogue—meant for scholars, curators, and sophisticated collectors—will not be available (at $85) to the...