Guggenheim, Solomon Robert

Guggenheim, Solomon Robert (1861–1949) businessman, art collector; born in Philadelphia (son of Meyer Guggenheim). After study in local schools and in Zurich, he became a partner in his father's Swiss embroidery import business. He returned to America (1889), worked in the family mining industry in Colorado and New Mexico, then returned to the business headquarters in New York City (1895). He was a director of many family companies and a founder of the Yukon Gold Company in Alaska before retiring from business in 1919. With the assistance of Hilla Rebay, he collected important modernist paintings and established the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation (1937). This was the source of funds for the temporary Museum of Non-Objective Paintings (1937), and for the permanent Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (1959) designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.