Solomon R. Guggenheim

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Solomon R. Guggenheim

Solomon Robert Guggenheim (born February 2, 1861 in Philadelphia , † November 3, 1949 in New York ) was an American industrialist and philanthropist . He was the founder of the Guggenheim Museum in New York.

Life

Solomon Robert Guggenheim comes from a Jewish family who emigrated from Switzerland to the USA in 1847. He was born the son of Meyer Guggenheim on February 2, 1861 in Philadelphia. He was educated in public and private schools in Philadelphia and Switzerland . Since Solomon R. Guggenheim was a member of the Guggenheim brothers' company, which traded in copper , among other things , he quickly became a millionaire.

After making the acquaintance of the German abstract painter Hilla von Rebay , he began collecting works of art by modern European artists in the early 1930s . For example, he acquired works by the artist Wassily Kandinsky . In 1937, Solomon R. Guggenheim established the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation to promote public understanding of modern art. Two years later, in 1939, the foundation opened the Museum of Non-Objective Art in New York , in which the Solomon R. Guggenheim collection was made accessible to the public. In 1943 he commissioned Frank Lloyd Wright to design a new museum building on Fifth Avenue . Solomon R. Guggenheim died on November 3, 1949, before construction of the museum began in 1956. In retrospect, the museum was named Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in his honor .

family

Solomon R. Guggenheim married Irene Rothschild (1868-1954), daughter of the New York merchant Victor Henry Rothschild (not related to the European Rothschild banking family ) and his wife Josephine (née Wolf) in 1895 . The marriage of Solomon and Irene had three daughters: Eleanor (1896–1992), Gertrude (1898–1966), and Barbara (1904–1985).

Solomon R. Guggenheim was the uncle of Peggy Guggenheim , whose father Benjamin Guggenheim , his brother, died in 1912 in the sinking of the Titanic .

With Cédric Guggenheim (* 1981 in Montreux) the grandson of Salomon R. Guggenheim continues the family legacy. The investor uses a large part of the family's wealth for philanthropic purposes and promotes talented artists and young entrepreneurs.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ John H. Davis: The Guggenheims. From robber barons to human friends Schweizer Verlagshaus AG, Zurich 1984 (American original edition: The Guggenheims. An American Epic. New York 1978).
  2. ↑ Welcome to the Guggenheim Foundation »Guggenheim Foundation. Retrieved on March 3, 2020 (German).
  3. ↑ Kevin Philipps: The American Money Aristocracy: A Political History of Wealth in the United States . Campus, Frankfurt am Main 2003, ISBN 3-593-37312-2 , p. 123

literature

  • Irwin Unger, Debi Unger: The Guggenheims - a family history. Harper Collins, New York 2005, ISBN 0-06-018807-3 .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Guggenheim, Solomon R.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Guggenheim, Solomon Robert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American industrialist and philanthropist
DATE OF BIRTH February 2, 1861
PLACE OF BIRTH Philadelphia , Pennsylvania, USA
DATE OF DEATH November 3, 1949
Place of death New York City , New York , USA