Guggenheim to open art gallery at Venetian

David Strow

Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2000 | 11:26 a.m.

Las Vegas' aspirations of becoming a fine art mecca took a major step forward Tuesday as the world-renowned Solomon Guggenheim Foundation confirmed its intent to open a gallery at the Venetian resort on the Las Vegas Strip.

The center would be only the sixth Guggenheim branch in the world, joining branches in New York, Berlin, Venice, and Bilbao, Spain. Joining the venture will be the State Hermitage museum of St. Petersburg, Russia, a museum with origins dating from the 1750s.

The new gallery was confirmed in a Tuesday conference at the Venetian by brokerage firm Goldman Sachs & Co., attended by Venetian President Bill Weidner and Guggenheim Director Thomas Krens. The announcement referred to "two projects within the existing Venetian property," showcasing works of fine and popular art.

"The partnership between the prestigious Guggenheim and Hermitage museums further solidifies our effort to create an upscale positioning in the marketplace and enhances our business strategy to build a distinctive resort within a destination city," Weidner said in a statement. A Venetian spokesman said the resort would have no further comment on the projects.

The Venetian art projects are a continuation of an art trend started on the Strip by Steve Wynn and Mirage Resorts Inc. in opening the Bellagio with its art gallery in 1998. But unlike that exhibit, analysts and experts note, the Guggenheim and Hermitage will lend the power of their names to Las Vegas' efforts to transform itself.

"They're both recognized as major places to see works of art of quality," said Robert Tracy, associate dean of the college of fine arts at UNLV. "They bring to Las Vegas a sense of credibility. They recognize Las Vegas as a very powerful contributor to American pop culture, and they want to be a part of it."

And ultimately, that means good news for the Las Vegas economy, said Merrill Lynch gaming analyst David Anders.

"What this does is raise the awareness of Las Vegas within the art community," Anders said. "If someone goes to the Guggenheim in New York, who never thought of going to Las Vegas, sees that there's a permanent exhibit in Las Vegas, they may be intrigued.

"By raising the awareness of these exhibits in Las Vegas, there's a chance someone would decide to go to Las Vegas that didn't go before. It should be another step in stimulating first-time visitation within a very affluent demographic."

The Guggenheim, founded in New York about 60 years ago, has become a center of modern, abstract and surrealist art -- and sometimes of controversy. The museum shocked many in 1959, when the Guggenheim opened in a circular, curving building designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Its exhibits include paintings from such great artists as Cezanne, Degas, Picasso and Van Gogh. Another notable exhibit includes a collection from controversial photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, whose explicit works were forced out of several public museums in the 1980s after a firestorm of public criticism.

Under Krens, the Guggenheim has undergone a period of expansion. Originally based in New York and Venice, the Guggenheim added a second New York museum in 1992. In 1997 Guggenheim museums opened in Bilbao, Spain, and Berlin.

The Hermitage's name goes back farther, back to its commissioning by Russian Empress Catherine II in 1754, and its establishment as a public museum one century later. Now under the direct patronage of the president of the Russian Federation, the museum is one of the most extensive art collections in the world with more than 2 million works of art, including exhibits from prehistoric culture, Western European artists and Russian artists.

The Hermitage has survived crises before; in the 1930s, Soviet leaders shipped thousands of priceless works of art overseas for auction, resulting in the loss of 48 masterpieces, while other artworks were shipped to regional museums across the Soviet Union. What Joseph Stalin was unable to sell, Adolf Hitler nearly captured after Nazi armies plunged into the Soviet Union in 1941. Before Nazi armies besieged Leningrad, the Hermitage successfully shipped its collection to Siberia, where it survived until the end of World War II.

But the Hermitage, along with the rest of Russia, is now facing a dire need for capital, Tracy said.

"Russia is hurting for money, and they need to generate income," Tracy said. "They can do that by having their works travel. They're well respected all over the world, and by lending their name to exhibit their work in Las Vegas, that speaks well for the city."

The Guggenheim and the Hermitage will join the Phillips Collection of Washington, D.C., which now has a temporary display at the Bellagio's Gallery of Fine Art. Yet another huge name in the art world -- the Smithsonian -- is also eyeing Las Vegas, Tracy said.

"The Smithsonian doesn't have any facilities outside of the Mall (in Washington)," Tracy said. "This would be their first effort outside of the Mall, and look where they're choosing to do it."

The 35,000-square-foot gallery being contemplated at the Venetian would be located near the Venetian's parking garage. It would be designed by Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, described by Tracy as one of the world's most prestigious architects.

"The fact they're willing to pay (Koolhaas) is not unlike what they (the Guggenheim) did with Frank Lloyd Wright (who designed the Guggenheim in 1959)," Tracy said.

The first planned exhibit would be "The Art of the Motorcycle," a collection of motorcycles dating from a steam-powered cycle of 1868 to the modern Harley-Davidson. A completion date hasn't been set, though Tracy believes the opening could come as soon as late 2001.

Perhaps tied with the Guggenheim/Hermitage plans was a separate announcement by the Venetian Tuesday of new expansion plans. In Tuesday's conference, Weidner said the Venetian was in the preliminary stages of exploring whether to build an additional 1,000 rooms on top of the Venetian parking garage. Such a project would push the Venetian's room inventory to 4,000 rooms.

It wasn't clear whether the new project meant that the Venetian had shelved previously discussed plans to move forward with a second, 3,000-suite hotel tower. This project, which wouldn't have been launched until 2001 at the earliest, was not mentioned in Tuesday's press releases.

The decision to look at expansion is apparently being triggered by heavy demand for rooms at the Venetian, where occupancy was 96.6 percent in July and August, at an average daily room rate of $162. The Venetian also indicated it turned away 815,393 group room nights over the next three years because of heavy pre-booking activity.

Given the strength of the Las Vegas market in general and the Venetian in particular, Anders believes the Strip would handily absorb another 1,000 rooms. But that doesn't mean he believes the decision is the correct one.

"What investors want to see are management teams pushing room rates up, improving returns, paying back debt and buying back shares," Anders said. "Could Las Vegas absorb 1,000 rooms? The answer's probably 'yes.' But at the same time, that would ultimately limit the room rate increases that Wall Street is expecting."