Vegas closure report denied

Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2002 | 11:02 a.m.

A spokeswoman for Las Vegas' two Guggenheim museums at the Venetian hotel-casino today denied a report that one of the galleries would close early next year.

Kimiko Haight, communications manager of the Guggenheim Hermitage Museum and the Guggenheim Las Vegas, said there are no plans to shut down either gallery, which opened in 2001.

A report in the New York Sun cited unidentified sources saying the Guggenheim Las Vegas, which currently is showing "The Art of the Motorcycle," would close in January.

Haight acknowledged that the economic climate is not particularly good for art galleries, especially in New York, and that several persons have left or have been laid off by Guggenheim. But she said an exhibition has been identified for the Guggenheim Hermitage in March. Nothing has been planned beyond "The Art of the Motorcycle," which closes at the Guggenheim Las Vegas on Jan. 5.

Haight said attendance has been good at the galleries and that more than 700,000 paid to see "Masterpieces and Master Collectors," which ran from Oct. 7, 2001, through Aug. 11 at the Guggenheim Hermitage. "Art through the Ages, Masterpieces of Painting from Titian to Picasso" is scheduled at that gallery through March.

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