Artwork copyright Leslie Kuter. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission, 2017.

Artwork copyright Leslie Kuter. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission, 2017.

Artwork copyright Leslie Kuter. Photo courtesy of the artist.

The Guggenheims, 1981

Leslie Kuter
(American, born 1947)

Location: Spokane Community College, Spokane

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

The Guggenheims is a figurative wool rug by Leslie Kuter. It is part of a series focused on art history and the role of the artist as an investigator of social and political issues. The Guggenheims are an old and wealthy American mining family that are also known for their support of modern art. They are the founders of the Guggenheim Museum in New York City. Kuter poses Guggenheim family members with Mexican mine workers and figures from modern art by Pablo Picasso, Franz Marc, and Oskar Kokoshka. The upper left shows Mexican mine workers who were exploited by the Guggenheim family in pursuit of wealth. The masked and bundled up worker on the right is moving arsenic, part of the mining operations which created the Guggenheim fortune. Kuter notes, "Art, beauty, and wealthy built on exploitation."

This artwork was acquired for the State Art Collection in partnership with Spokane Community College.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Artist Leslie Kuter creates intricate hooked wool rugs, which she terms "soft paintings." The realistic compositions highlight different figures and events. She was born in Philadelphia and graduated from Beloit College in Wisconsin. She lives and works in rural New York.