Samuel Henry Kress
Samuel Henry Kress | |
---|---|
Born | |
Died | September 22, 1955 New York City, New York, U.S. | (aged 92)
Occupation | Founder of S. H. Kress & Co. |
Samuel Henry Kress (July 23, 1863 – September 22, 1955) was a businessman, philanthropist, and founder of the S. H. Kress & Co. five and ten cent store chain. With his fortune, Kress amassed one of the most significant collections of Italian Renaissance and European artwork assembled in the 20th century. In the 1950s and 1960s, a foundation established by Kress would donate 776 works of art from the Kress collection to 18 regional art museums in the United States.[1]
Early life and education
Kress was born in Cherryville, Pennsylvania, near Allentown, the second of seven children born to John Franklin Kress and Margaret Dodson (née Conner) Kress. His father was a retail merchant. His siblings were Mary Conner Kress, Jennie Weston Kress, Palmer John Kress, Claude Washington Kress, and Rush Harrison Kress. Another sibling, Elmer Kress, died ten days after birth. Kress never married or had children. He was a Mason.
Young Kress attended schools in Slatington, Pennsylvania.
Career
Kress worked for a while in the
In 1887, Kress opened a stationery and notions store in Nanticoke, Pennsylvania. As the business prospered, he used his profits to open additional stores, naming his chain S. H. Kress & Co. These eventually became popularly known as the Kress Five and Dime stores. Unlike many businessmen of his day who only opened their stores in large urban areas, Kress wisely located his stores in smaller cities in 29 states he felt had growth potential. These stores became the jewel of many of these cities, which only had a dry goods or general store until then. By the mid-1920s, he was living in a penthouse at 1020 Fifth Avenue in New York City, across the street from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which he visited and contributed to regularly.
S. H. Kress & Co.
S. H. Kress & Co., a chain of "
Samuel H. Kress Foundation
Kress was founder and president of the eponymous Samuel H. Kress Foundation. An avid art lover, he acquired, through art dealers
On March 17, 1941, Kress and Paul Mellon gave large gifts of art to the people of the United States, thereby establishing the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Franklin D. Roosevelt accepted the gift personally.
Today, the masterpieces Kress donated are considered priceless and the Kress Foundation has dispensed millions of dollars to worthy organizations and institutions in the years since.
Kress Collection of Historic Images, National Gallery of Art
The Kress Collection of Historic Images at the National Gallery of Art—more than 18,300 scans of paintings, drawings, sculptures, and decorative arts purchased or once considered for purchase by Samuel H. Kress and the foundation he established in 1929—has been digitized, making these significant holdings more accessible to researchers around the world through the Gallery’s department of image collections. Kress donated most of these objects to 90 museums, colleges, and other institutions in 33 states, with the greater number of these gifts coming to the National Gallery of Art. Images from this collection document works of art in various states of conservation, as well as some x-ray, infrared, and ultraviolet images. In a few cases, the files include scans of comments by scholars written on the backs of the photographs. Photographs of Samuel Kress’s apartment in New York show 282 magnificent objects as they were arranged before their dispersal.
Art historians, conservators, and students have used these images to enhance their understanding of these objects. The photographs can illuminate aspects of the works of art that we can no longer see. For instance, conservators routinely study these images in order to anticipate remnants of earlier damage or restorations. Art historians may compare high resolution details to other known works by an artist to assist in attribution questions. Students may better understand the “life” of a work of art by seeing changes over time, illustrated through a variety of reproductive processes.
The Kress Collection of Historic Images project was made possible by two generous grants by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation.
Museums with significant donations from the Kress Foundation
- Allentown Art Museum, Allentown, Pennsylvania—Paintings: 50, Sculptures: 3
- Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, Alabama—Paintings: 34, Sculptures: 2, Furniture: 13, Decorative Arts: 4
- Columbia Museum of Art, Columbia, South Carolina—Paintings: 46, Sculptures: 2, Bronzes: 11, Furniture: 9, Tapestries: 10
- Denver Art Museum, Denver, Colorado—Paintings: 46, Sculptures: 4
- El Paso Museum of Art, El Paso, Texas—Paintings: 56, Sculptures: 2
- Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, San Francisco, California—Paintings: 37, Sculpture: 1
- High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia—Paintings: 29, Sculptures: 3, Furniture: 13
- Honolulu Museum of Art, Honolulu, Hawaii—Paintings: 14
- Lowe Art Museum, Coral Gables, Florida—Paintings: 44, Sculptures: 3
- Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Memphis, Tennessee—Paintings: 27, Sculptures: 2
- Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, Texas—Paintings: 30
- National Building Museum, Washington, D.C.
- National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. -- Paintings: 376, Sculptures: 94, Bronzes: 1307, Drawings: 38
- Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri—Paintings: 14, Sculptures: 2
- New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, Louisiana—Paintings: 29
- North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, North Carolina—Paintings: 73, Sculptures: 2
- Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa, Oklahoma—Paintings: 30, Sculptures: 6
- Ponce Museum of Art, Ponce, Puerto Rico—Paintings: 15 [4]
- Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon—Paintings: 30, Sculptures: 2
- Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington—Paintings: 33, Sculptures: 2
- Smart Museum of Art, Chicago, Illinois—Paintings: 16, Sculptures: 3, Decorative Arts: 3 [5]
- University of Arizona Museum of Art, Tucson, Arizona—Paintings: 60, Sculptures: 3
- Vanderbilt University Fine Arts Gallery,[6] Nashville, Tennessee—Paintings: 12
Death
Kress died on September 22, 1955, and is interred in the Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx, New York City.
References
- ^ Gehman, Geoff (October 7, 2007), "Friendship brought Old Masters treasure trove to Allentown.", The Morning Call, pp. E.01
- ^ "Samuel H. Kress Attends Memorial Day Exercises". The Slatington News. June 4, 1926. p. 1.
- ^ Morassi, Antonio, "Obituary: William Suida," The Burlington Magazine, Vol.120, No. 689 (Aug., 1960) p. 371.
- ^ Martinez, Marialba (30 October 2003). "Puerto Rico Grieves Over The Loss Of Its Premier Statesman Four Months Short Of His 100th Birthday". Puerto Rico Herald. Retrieved 4 February 2014.
- ^ Glesne, Corrine. "The Campus Art Museum: A Qualitative Study" (PDF). The Samuel H. Kress Foundation. Retrieved July 9, 2016.
- ^ "The Samuel H. Kress Collection". Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries.