Guggenheim, Solomon R(obert)

Guggenheim, Solomon R(obert) (1861-1949), American industrialist and philanthropist, son of Meyer Guggenheim, born in Philadelphia, and educated at public and private schools there and in Switzerland. He was a member of the firm of Guggenheim Brothers. In the 1920s he began to collect abstract art, and in 1937 he established the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation to promote public understanding of modern art. In 1939 the foundation opened the Museum of Non-Objective Art, later the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, in New York. The museum, which was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, is a major centre for the collection and display of works of abstract art.