David M. Solinger (1906 – October 29, 1996) was a lawyer, art collector, and president of the

Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is an art museum in the Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1930 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875–1942), ...

Biography

Solinger was born in New York City in 1906, the son of Maurice Solinger, a meatpacking business executive. After graduating from

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

and

Columbia Law School Columbia Law School (Columbia Law or CLS) is the law school of Columbia University, a private Ivy League university in New York City. Columbia Law is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious law schools in the world and has always ranked i ...

, he worked as a senior partner at the Manhattan law firm ''Solinger and Gordon''. He was one of the first lawyers to develop a specialty in advertising, radio and television law and his clients included

Louise Nevelson Louise Nevelson (September 23, 1899 – April 17, 1988) was an American sculptor known for her monumental, monochromatic, wooden wall pieces and outdoor sculptures. Born in the Poltava Governorate of the Russian Empire (present-day Kyiv Oblast, ...

Hans Hoffman Hans Hofmann (March 21, 1880 – February 17, 1966) was a German-born American painter, renowned as both an artist and teacher. His career spanned two generations and two continents, and is considered to have both preceded and influenced Abstrac ...

, and

Franz Kline Franz Kline (May 23, 1910 – May 13, 1962) was an American painter. He is associated with the Abstract Expressionist movement of the 1940s and 1950s. Kline, along with other action painters like Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Robert Mothe ...

. In 1961, he was elected a trustee of the

and in 1966 he succeeded Flora Whitney Miller as its president, the first that was not a member of the

Whitney family The Whitney family is an American family notable for their business enterprises, social prominence, wealth and philanthropy, founded by John Whitney (1592–1673), who came from London, England to Watertown, Massachusetts in 1635. The historic fa ...

. While trustee he was instrumental in moving the museum to a new facility designed by

Marcel Breuer Marcel Lajos Breuer ( ; 21 May 1902 – 1 July 1981), was a Hungarian-born modernist architect and furniture designer. At the Bauhaus he designed the Wassily Chair and the Cesca Chair, which ''The New York Times'' have called some of the most im ...

; and in 1973, as president, in the opening of its first branch location in lower Manhattan.

Art collection

Solinger collected 20th century art and owned works by Klee, Dubuffet, Giacometti, Leger, Miro, Kline, de Kooning, and Kandinsky as well as a 1927 Picasso, donating many to local museums.

Personal life

Solinger was married twice. In 1937, he married Hope Alva Gimbel, the daughter of

Bernard Gimbel Bernard Feustman Gimbel (April 10, 1885 – September 29, 1966) was an American businessman and president of the Gimbels department store. Biography Gimbel was born to Jewish parents, Rachel (née Feustman) and Isaac Gimbel, son of Adam Gimbel, ...

; the couple had two daughters before divorcing in 1978: Faith Solinger Sommerfield and Lynn Solinger Stern Lang. He remarried to Betty Ann Besch. Solinger died at his home in Manhattan on October 29, 1996.

References

External links

Oral history interview with David M. Solinger
1977 May 6 {{DEFAULTSORT:Solinger, David 1906 births 1996 deaths 20th-century American Jews American art collectors 20th-century American lawyers Gimbel family Cornell University alumni