folio FALL 2019
the four arts Welcomes a
neW President Following an extensive search over the past year, The Society of the Four Arts selected Philip Rylands, Ph.D., as its next president, succeeding Dr. David Breneman. Dr. Rylands began work at The Four Arts on September 16.
“We are fortunate to secure a president with such a track record of success on an international level,” said Dr. Randolph “Bob” Guthrie, chairman of the board of trustees. “Philip not only has a deep knowledge of art and culture, but also is the right person to harness our personnel and technology resources.” Rylands started as the sole administrator for the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice in 1979, building the staff and the Collection into a landmark institution of global cultural significance, recently serving as Director Emeritus. “We started from one employee to many, expanding it,” Rylands said. “We doubled its size, we introduced an exhibition program, sculpture gardens, a café and shops, we multiplied its attendance by seven times, and it became the most visited museum of modern art in Italy.” Rylands went to Venice in the 1970s while working on his Ph.D. in art history, focusing on Italian Renaissance painter Palma il Vecchio, before a welcome friendship with Peggy Guggenheim changed his career path.
Photo: David Heald
“She had a great capacity for friendship,” Rylands said. “She was modestly unaware of how important she had been to the history of art. She was justly proud of her discovery of Jackson Pollack. Peggy was a generous friend and a great figure in the history of collecting.”
Philip Rylands, Ph.D.
Under Rylands’ leadership, the 18th-century palazzo that houses the Peggy Guggenheim Collection was converted and restored, and the organization set and achieved many programming and financial goals, including the implementation of an extensive internship program. CON TINu Ed ON PAgE 2