Were all the 2,000-odd works in the art collection of Manhattan's Solomon R.
Guggenheim Museum ever put on view at one time, some observers might wonder just how it got to be so famous. Since its original commitment was to nonobjective art, it is about 80% abstract, but even in its chosen field, its omissionsMark Rothko, Clyfford Still, Philip Guston, Robert Motherwell. to mention only a feware glaring. Nevertheless, the corkscrew museum's new director. Thomas Messer, last week put on a show from the collection that was a delight from the third spiral to the ground floor: an exhibition of the museum's...