S.H. Kress biography

 S.H. Kress biography

 S.H. Kress, in full Samuel Henry Kress, (born July 23, 1863, Cherryville, Pa., U.S.—died Sept. 22, 1955, New York, N.Y.), American service provider and artwork collector who used the wealth from his chain of five-and-ten-cent shops to donate art work to greater than 40 U.S. museums.

With cash saved from his instructing wage, Kress bought a stationery retailer in Nanticoke, Pa., in 1887. With the earnings, he purchased a second retailer three years later in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., and, in 1896, opened a retailer in Memphis, Tenn. By persistently placing the shops’ revenue into enlargement, he had acquired 12 shops by 1900. His chain of shops provided fewer objects than most selection shops, at decrease costs, and he purchased items straight from producers and relied on gross sales quantity to make up for his low revenue margin. By 1907 Kress had moved his headquarters to New York City and operated 51 shops. During his lifetime, his chain grew to incorporate 264 shops promoting $169,000,000 yearly.

In 1921 Kress traveled to Europe, amassing medieval and Renaissance work, sculptures, and textiles. In 1929 he established the Kress Foundation, endowing it with 40 p.c of the corporate’s voting inventory. The basis donated works from his assortment to artwork galleries in states through which he owned shops. In 1939 Kress gave the newly established National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., 375 work and 18 sculptures, valued at $25,000,000. Later items to the National Gallery included works of Watteau, Raphael, Titian, Fra Angelico, and Van Dyck. Fourteen metropolis artwork museums additionally acquired works from his basis. He additionally contributed to medical analysis and schooling, giving New York University-Bellevue Medical Center $8,000,000 for schooling in 1949 and in 1952 giving the Memorial Center for Cancer and Allied Diseases in New York City a betatron unit, together with funds for a analysis program.