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| Peggy Guggenheim, art collector |
Pompeian Frescoes |
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I was worried about my virginity. I was twenty-three and I found it burdensome. All my boyfriends were disposed to marry me, but they were so respectable, they would not rape me. I had a collection of photographs of frescoes I had seen at Pompeii. They depicted people making love in various positions, and of course I was very curious and wanted to try them all out myself. It soon occurred to me that I could make use of Laurence [Vail] for this purpose . . .
He came to see me at the Plaza-Athénée Hôtel where I was living and started to make love to me. When he pulled me toward him, I acquiesced so quickly that he was surprised by my lack of resistance. However I told him that we could not do anything there as my mother might return at any moment. He said we would go to his hotel room sometime. I immediately rushed to put on my hat, and he took me to the Rue de Verneuil. I am sure he had not meant to. That was how I lost my virginity. It was as simple as that. I think Laurence had a pretty tough time because I demanded everything I had seen depicted in the Pompeian frescoes. I went home and dined with my mother and a friend gloating over my secret and wondering what they would think of it if they knew. (Paris, 1926)
from Out of This Century: Confessions of an Art Addict by Peggy Guggenheim (Andre Deutsch, © 1979)
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