S.H. Kress

S.H. Kress was an American merchant and art collector who used the wealth from his chain of five-and-ten-cent stores to donate artwork to more than 40 U.S. museums.

With money saved from his teaching salary, Kress purchased a stationery store in Nanticoke, Pa., in 1887. With the profits, he bought a second store three years later in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., and, in 1896, opened a store in Memphis, Tenn. By consistently putting the stores’ income into expansion, he had acquired 12 stores by 1900. His chain of stores offered fewer items than most variety stores, at lower prices, and he bought goods directly from manufacturers and relied on sales volume to make up for his low profit margin. By 1907 Kress had moved his headquarters to New York City and operated 51 stores. During his lifetime, his chain grew to include 264 stores selling $169,000,000 annually.

In 1921 Kress traveled to Europe, collecting medieval and Renaissance paintings, sculptures, and textiles. In 1929 he established the Kress Foundation, endowing it with 40 percent of the company’s voting stock. The foundation donated works from his collection to art galleries in states in which he owned stores. In 1939 Kress gave the newly established National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., 375 paintings and 18 sculptures, valued at $25,000,000. Later gifts to the National Gallery included works of Watteau, Raphael, Titian, Fra Angelico, and Van Dyck. Fourteen city art museums also received works from his foundation. He also contributed to medical research and education, giving New York University-Bellevue Medical Center $8,000,000 for education in 1949 and in 1952 giving the Memorial Center for Cancer and Allied Diseases in New York City a betatron unit, along with funds for a research program.