Museum sits out this hand

The Guggenheim Las Vegas, which opened 15 months ago at the Venetian Resort Hotel Casino with a flashy exhibition of motor muscle titled “Art of the Motorcycle,” will close for at least four weeks beginning Jan. 5 while the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum seeks funding for future exhibitions.

The Venetian’s Guggenheim Hermitage Museum, which opened at the same time and represents a collaboration between the Guggenheim and the famed State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia, will remain open, Guggenheim officials said Tuesday.

That gallery, which has exhibited works from the Guggenheim, the Hermitage and Vienna’s Kunsthistorisches, plans as its next exhibition a collection of modern American art from the Guggenheim’s collection and is in negotiations for a Norman Rockwell show.

“It’s very simple. There are several exhibitions in advanced stages of development to go into that space, and we’re currently seeking funding. It’s nothing out of the ordinary,” Guggenheim official Betsy Ennis said of the Guggenheim Las Vegas, a 63,700-square-foot space informally dubbed the Big Box by its architect, Rem Koolhaas.

“We look forward to future cultural endeavors with the Guggenheim, ones that will please and delight our patrons,” said Kurt Ouchida, director of communications for the Venetian. “We would like the Guggenheim to take the necessary time to find the right programming; we are looking for the right show with the right type of sponsorship. It’s an ambitious space.”

The Guggenheim’s two spaces were estimated to cost about $30 million. Ouchida said they have collectively drawn close to a million visitors since they opened in October 2001just after the terrorist attacks which severely curtailed Las Vegas’ tourism. He declined to comment on whether the Venetian considered “Art of the Motorcycle” to be a financial success for the hotel.

The announcement of the temporary closure follows a wave of financial woes for the Guggenheim.

In the last year, the Guggenheim’s operating budget has been reduced drastically. Staff has been cut from 339 full-time positions in November 2001 to 181, and New York’s Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum has cut its operating hours.

Last month, major benefactor Peter Lewis, an Ohio auto insurance magnate, bailed out the troubled New York museum with a donation of $12 million, but put its director, Thomas Krens, on notice that he must operate on a more modest budget.

Neil Cantor , director of finance for the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art, said that while all areas of the Las Vegas entertainment industry were hit hard by the events of Sept. 11, the city’s fledgling crop of fine art museums were the most vulnerable.

The Bellagio Gallery’s current exhibition, “Faberge: Treasures from the Kremlin,” closes Jan. 26. Cantor says that show has been highly successful.

“A lot of business after Sept. 11 was California drive-ins, which dramatically hurt this kind of enterprise, “ he said. “They come in for a quick three-day hit; they want to gamble, they want to eat and then they want to go home. The East Coast and European travelers are only starting to come back now.”