Peggy Guggenheim: Art Addict

Following the profile of her grandmother-in-law in Diana Vreeland: the Eye Has to Travel (2011), director Lisa Immordino Vreeland turns to the doyenne of modern art patrons in this brisk, but often frustrating documentary. Making extensive use of the audio interviews Peggy Guggenheim gave to authorised biographer Jacqueline Bograd Weld, Immordino Vreeland places less emphasis on her subject's torrid love life to concentrate on how she learned about art during her bohemian sojourn in 1920s Paris and not only became a key collector, but also a pioneering gallerist in London, New York and Venice, who did much to encourage Abstract Expressionists like Jackson Pollock. Robert De Niro and Marina Abramovic guest among the talking heads, but the majority are art luvvies whose insights sometimes feel as bland as the archive material Vreeland uses to support the priceless recordings. Consequently, while this is always informative, it often feels like an illustrated lecture that over-scrupulously avoids the contentious topic of Guggenheim's taste in both painting and men.