Solomon Guggenheim, art collector: biography, family. Museum of Modern Art in New York

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Solomon Robert Guggenheim was born in Philadelphia in 1861 to a merchant family. They made most of their fortune in the mining industry. He himself is the founder of the foundation for the support of contemporary art, which received his name. Together with his wife, Irena, Rothschild has earned a reputation as a philanthropist.

Biography

Solomon Guggenheim, beginning in the mid-1890s, began collecting old masters, American landscapes, the French Barbizon school of painting and primitive art. The nature of his collection, however, changed radically in 1927 when he met Hilla Rebay (1890-1967). She introduced him to the works of the European avant-garde and examples of abstract art.

In July 1930, she arranged a meeting with Wassily Kandinsky, whose work the collector had bought for himself. Beginning in 1930, the public was allowed to view the Guggenheim collection in his private apartment at the Plaza Hotel in New York. Soon the walls were covered with paintings by artists such aslike Rudolf Bauer, Marc Chagall, Fernand Léger and Laszlo Moholy-Nagy.

In 1937 he established the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. This move led to the opening in 1939 of the Museum of Non-Objective Painting on East 54th Street, and then in 1947 to the museum's next temporary location in a townhouse at 1071 Fifth Avenue, as well as to the involvement of Frank Lloyd Wright in 1943 to design a new building for collection placement. Guggenheim died in 1949, ten years before the completion of the museum that bears his name.

Charity activities

The Guggenheim family left a strong mark on the smelting industry of the early 1900s. By 1918, the Guggenheims were the second richest family in America. However, they are more remembered as philanthropists. Five of the most famous benefactors came from this extended family. By creating a number of foundations, the family sought to contribute to the development of society by funding research and the development of scientific thought.

Family charitable investments traditionally focus on three areas. The first field of activity of the Guggenheim family is scientific research, including in the field of biology and aviation (John Simon Guggenheim Foundation). Secondly, the family is funding the analysis of cultural activity, including scientific research on current socio-political issues and the promotion of research in the humanities (Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation). In addition, they are credited with significant charitable contributions fromto encourage creative individuals.

The Guggenheim family created a legacy by funding the development of foundations, schools, the creation of museums, art collections, acts of individual creativity, innovation in science, aeronautics.

Family History

Meyer Guggenheim (1828 - 1905) was a tailor of Jewish origin who immigrated to the United States in 1847. He and his wife had eight sons. Meyer created a family fortune in the late 19th century, starting with 300,000 investments in railroad stocks. After that, he moved on to importing Swiss embroidery and then to the production of metals, including silver copper and lead. Meyer founded the Philadelphia Iron and Steel Company and, in late 1901, absorbed the American smelter. At one time, the Guggenheim family was said to have controlled 31 industrial, import, and agricultural companies in the US and abroad.

Of his eight sons, Daniel, Solomon and Simon are considered influential philanthropists.

Daniel Guggenheim (1856 - 1930) handled much of the family business; he merged and ran the Guggenheim and American Smelting companies. Solomon Robert (1981 - 1949) was also active in the family business, building a strong position in the mining industry, especially in Colombia. Simon (1867 - 1941) was briefly a Republican senator from Colorado and a major ore purchaser for the family mill. For a number of years he worked in Colorado, overseeing the mines in Leadville (US-Israelicooperative enterprise).

Art Collections

Starting to build a large collection, Solomon, a well-known American philanthropist, began planning the creation of a permanent exhibition in New York. He died before his project was completed, and Harry Guggenheim saw to it that his uncle's dream was completed. The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum currently owns the collected work of Peggy Guggenheim, whose extensive art collection, as well as the estate, were left to the museum after her death. The collection includes works by Kandinsky, Tanguy, Moore, Duchamp, Picasso, Rothko, Dali, Breton and Pollock. Peggy Guggenheim has also funded artists such as Jackson Pollock, providing them with funds to create works early in their careers.

Exposures

The Guggenheim Museum is an international museum that collects and exhibits contemporary art in New York City and elsewhere under the auspices of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. Let's talk a little more about them. Its structural divisions:

• Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York;
• Peggy Guggenheim collection in Venice, Italy;
• also exhibited collections in Bilbao (Spain) and Berlin (Germany).

Guggenheim Museum in New York

The museum grew out of private collections. Managed by the Foundation, renamed the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in 1952.

In 1959 he received a permanent residence permit in the new building,designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. It is a radical departure from traditional museum design, the building spiraling upward and outward in sculpted coils of massive, unadorned white concrete. The interior exhibition space consists of a spiral ramp of six "floors" surrounding an open center space illuminated by a glass dome supported by stainless steel ceilings.

The museum building was expanded in 1992 by adding an adjacent 10-story tower. The Guggenheim Museum has an extensive collection of European paintings of the twentieth century and American paintings of the second half of the same century. The museum houses the world's largest collection of paintings by Wassily Kandinsky, as well as rich collections of works by Pablo Picasso, Paul Klee, Joan Miro and others. Modern sculpture is also on display here.

Other family museums

The Peggy Guggenheim Collection was assembled by the niece of Solomon R. Guggenheim and is housed in her former home, Palazzo Venier dei Leoni in Venice, and includes some notable works in Cubism, Surrealism and Abstract Expressionism. The collection and house were donated to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation in 1979.

The Guggenheim Bilbao opened in 1997 as a joint venture between the Guggenheim Foundation and the Basque Regional Authority for Northwest Spain. Museum complex designed by American architect Frank O. Gehry,consists of interconnected buildings whose curved facades of limestone and titanium suggest a gigantic depiction of abstract sculpture. The interior space of the building, which is organized around a huge atrium, is mainly dedicated to contemporary art exhibits. Deutsche Guggenheim Berlin is a small exhibition area.

In 2006, it was announced that a new Guggenheim Museum in Abu Dhabi, designed by Gehry, would be built on Saadiyat Island as part of a proposed cultural district.

At the beginning of the 21st century, several Guggenheim museums were closed: Soho (1992 - 2001) in New York, the Soho Museum in Las Vegas (2001 - 2003) and the Guggenheim Hermitage Museum (2001 - 2008) in Las -Vegas. The latter was a joint venture with the museum of the same name in St. Petersburg.