Solomon R. Guggenheim | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Solomon Robert Guggenheim February 2, 1861 |
| Died | November 3, 1949(1949-11-03) (aged 88) |
| Occupation(s) | Businessman, art collector, philanthropist |
| Known for | Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3 |
| Father | Meyer Guggenheim |
| Relatives | Arthur Stuart, 8th Earl Castle Stewart (grandson) |
| Family | Guggenheim |
Solomon Robert Guggenheim (February 2, 1861 – November 3, 1949) was an American businessman in needlework, gold, silver, copper, and lead and an art collector. He is best known for establishing theSolomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and theSolomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City.[1][2][3]
Guggenheim was born into the wealthyGuggenheim family, and founded the Yukon Gold Company in Alaska, among other business interests. He began collecting art in the 1890s, and he retired from his business after World War I to pursue art collecting.[1] He eventually focused on modern art under the guidance of artist BaronessHilla von Rebay, creating an important collection by the 1930s and opened his first museum in 1939.
Guggenheim was born in the Center City district ofPhiladelphia,Pennsylvania, son of German immigrant Barbara Meyer (1834–1900) and Swiss immigrantMeyer Guggenheim (1828–1905), the owner of a Swiss embroidery manufacturing and importing company. Solomon was the brother ofSimon,Benjamin,Daniel, andfive other siblings. He was of SwissAshkenazi Jewish ancestry. In 1879 Meyer Guggenheim bought one-third of a lead and silver mine in Leadville, Colorado, which turned out to be the start of the greatest mining empire in the world at the time, mining metals such as gold, silver, copper, and lead.[1]
After attending public school in Philadelphia, Solomon went on to study German language and business in Switzerland at theConcordia Institute inZürich. Afterwards, he partnered with his four brothers in the family needlework business M. Guggenheim & Sons and managed itsSaxony branch inGermany.[1]
Back in the US, Solomon worked in the family mining business. In 1891, heturned around the Compañia de la Gran Fundición Nacional Mexicana (translation: Great National Foundry Company of Mexico).[1] Guggenheim became the president of the Braden Copper Company in Chile, and in 1906 founded the Yukon Gold Company in theYukon Territory andAlaska.[citation needed]
Inspired by his wife Irene Rothschild, He began collecting works of theold masters in the 1890s. He retired from his business in 1919 to devote more time to art collecting and in 1926, met BaronessHilla von Rebay.[4] In 1930, they visitedWassily Kandinsky’s studio inDessau, Germany, and Guggenheim began to purchase Kandinsky's work. The same year, Guggenheim began to display the collection to the public at his apartment in thePlaza Hotel in New York City. Guggenheim's purchases continued with the works ofRudolf Bauer,Marc Chagall,Fernand Léger, andLászló Moholy-Nagy.[4]
In 1937, Guggenheim established theSolomon R. Guggenheim Foundation to foster the appreciation ofmodern art, and in 1939, he and his art advisor, Baroness Rebay, opened a venue for the display of his collection, theMuseum of Non-Objective Painting, at 24 East 54th Street inNew York City.[1][5]: 25, 36 Under Rebay's guidance, Guggenheim sought to include in the collection the most important examples ofnon-objective art available at the time, such as Kandinsky'sComposition 8 (1923), Léger'sContrast of Forms (1913) andRobert Delaunay'sSimultaneous Windows (2nd Motif, 1st Part) (1912).[6]
By the early 1940s, the museum had accumulated such a large collection of avant-garde paintings that the need for a permanent building to house the art collection had become apparent.[7] In 1943, Guggenheim and Rebay commissioned architectFrank Lloyd Wright to design a new museum building.[4][5]: 333 In 1948, the collection was greatly expanded through the purchase of art dealerKarl Nierendorf's estate of some 730 objects, notably German expressionist paintings.[6] By that time, the museum's collection included a broad spectrum ofexpressionist andsurrealist works, including paintings byPaul Klee,Oskar Kokoschka andJoan Miró.[6]
The museum was renamed theSolomon R. Guggenheim Museum in 1952, after Solomon Guggenheim's death in 1949. Its new building opened in New York City on October 21, 1959.[1]
Solomon Guggenheim married Irene Rothschild, daughter ofVictor Henry Rothschild, in 1895.[1][8] These Rothschilds were not related to theRothschild banking family. Solomon and Irene's children were Eleanor May (1896–1992; later Lady Castle Stewart after her marriage toArthur Stuart, 7th Earl Castle Stewart), Gertrude (1898–1966) and Barbara Guggenheim (1904–1985).[1]
Guggenheim died in 1949 onLong Island,New York.
In addition to the New York Museum, the Guggenheim Foundation operates, among other things, thePeggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice, which was established by Guggenheim's niece,Peggy Guggenheim.
