Syd Solomon, Coast Event, 1988-89, oils, acrylic on canvas, 60 by 72 inches. Signed lower left and titled on verso.
For over forty years Syd Solomon was one of the nation’s leading abstract artists, dividing his time between his home on Siesta Key in Sarasota and East Hampton, Long Island, where he was part of the artist circle of abstract expressionists that included Jackson Pollock, Lee Krasner, Alfonso Ossorio and Elaine and William de Kooning. In the late 1940’s De Kooning and Pollock would bring their baseball bats and gloves to Solomon’s house for a game, that later inspired the Hampton’s annual Artists & Writers Softball Game.
During World War II, Solomon served through five campaigns as a combat engineer reconnaissance artist, earning a Bronze Star at the Battle of the Bulge. Solomon moved to Siesta Key in 1946, teaching at the Ringling School of Art, the Fine Arts Institute at New College in Sarasota, and Manatee Community College. Later he was a member of the directing faculty of the Famous Artists Painting Courses.
Syd Solomon, Wave Song, oil on wood panel, 1968, 36 by 32 inches. Signed lower right and titled on verso.
In the early 1950’s Solomon organized and taught children’s art classes at the Ringling where one of his students was Florida modernist Craig Rubadoux. From 1950 to 1955 he ran his own art school, the Sarasota School of Art, in his studio on Phillippi Creek, and later in an old building near the John Ringling Hotel in downtown Sarasota.
In 1955 Solomon was included in the Ringling Museum exhibit, Fifty Florida Painters. He was a member of the jury of selection for the All-Florida Show at the Ringling Museum, January, February 1960, working with the chairmen of the art departments at the University of Miami, Charles Clayton, Karl Zerbe from Florida State University and Clinton Adams from the University of Florida.
Solomon was described as “a bear of a man, with a handlebar moustache, tousled hair and the tan of a beachcomber.” Mostly a self-trained artist, in an interview with Mary Anne Guitar, for her book, 22 Painters, Solomon is quoted, “In the beginning, I had no real understanding of art, I was just interested in skillful virtuosity…. A serious error overcome, by the study of art history and an insatiable practice of looking at great art. You must know what the great art of the past is about to form your own ideas with some maturity.” Of his work he said, “I have no other message than to seduce the eye of the observer, to make something beautiful in a way it has never been made before.”
Solomon won honors in juried exhibitions in New York, Pittsburg, New Orleans, Miami, Palm Beach, Clearwater and Sarasota. In January 1969, Jacksonville sponsored a Syd Solomon Day in recognition of his importance to the development of the arts and art education in Florida. In 1974 Solomon was the subject of a retrospective at the Ringling Museum and in 1979 had the distinction of being the first living artist to receive a one man show at the St. Petersburg Museum of Fine Art. Solomon was awarded many important prizes, including, in 1987, the Florida Prize for outstanding achievement by a Florida artist. His paintings are in numerous collections, including the Guggenheim Museum, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.
Syd Solomon, Earlyblue, oil on canvas, 55 by 59.125, signed lower right and signed and titled on verso.
Born: 1917, Uniontown, Pennsylvania, 1917. Education: Self-taught, briefly at the Art Institute of Chicago; Ecole des Beaux Arts, Paris. Membership: Sarasota Art Association, Director, 1951; Florida Gulf Coast Art Group; Clearwater Art Group; Florida Federation of Art; Palm Beach Art League; Florida Artist Group. Exhibits: Sarasota Art Association, Cain Building, December 1948, watercolor, Early Morning; Sarasota Art Association, at Ringling Museum, 1st Exhibit, 1949, Night Watchman; Florida Gulf Coast Group, sponsorship, Clearwater Art Museum, 7th Annual nationwide circuit, July 1948 to May 1949, watercolor, Kelley; Sarasota Art Association, winter, 1949, Judy, Composition Thompson, The Jury; Palm Beach Art League Annual Exhibit, Norton Gallery, March 1949; Sarasota Art Association, Circus Show (Only Circus Art), March 1949, Elephant Shave, Pre-Show; Palm Beach Art League, watercolor and graphics exhibit at Norton Gallery, March 1949, honorable mention, watercolor, Dialogue; Southeastern 4th Annual, High Museum of Art, Atlanta, October 1949; Florida Gulf Coast Group, 8th Annual Exhibition, Clearwater Art Museum, on nationwide circuit, July 1949 to May 1950, oil, Pre-Show; Sarasota Herald-Tribune, Sarasota Art Association, 1st Annual Art Review, March 1950, Badger’s; Palm Beach Art League, 32nd Annual Members’ Exhibition, March 1950, Coal Mountain; Florida Gulf Coast Art Center, January 1951; Clearwater Art Museum, one man show, February 1951; Palm Beach Art League 33rd Annual, March 1951, honorable mention, Spectral; Florida Gulf Coast Art Center, March 1951, watercolor award; Tampa Art Institute, November 1951; Florida Federation of Art Annual, November 1951, 2nd purchase award, Procession; Miami Beach Art Center, December 1951, joint exhibit with Joel Reichard and Loran Wilford, Citadel, The Judge, Bird Key; Florida Artist Group, 2nd Annual National Circuit, shown under auspices of the Art Department, University of Florida, May 1951 to April 1952, French Quarter Market; Hallmark International Award, 1952; Palm Beach Art League, 34th Annual Members’ Exhibit, March 1952, an oil, Procession and a watercolor, Joust; Florida Artist Group, 3rd Annual Members Exhibit, Ft. Harrison Hotel, Clearwater, shown under auspices of the Clearwater Art Group, March 1952, black & white drawings and prints, Brush; Lowe Art Gallery, 1st Annual Exhibit, University of Miami, December 1952- January 1953, best overall work, Lowe Gallery Award (entitling him to a one man exhibit in the Gallery in 1953), oils, Paternally, Moon and Black; Florida Artist Group, 3rd Annual National Circuit, shown under auspices of the Clearwater Art Group, May 1952 to April 1953, Moon and Black; Art Guild, 1st Exhibit, Tampa, February 1953; Southeastern Annual 1953, 1st purchase prize; Lowe Gallery, Miami, one man show, 1953; Lowe Gallery, Miami, 1st prize, 1953; Palm Beach Art League, 35th Annual, March 1953, honorable mention, watercolor, Antagonists; Society of The Four Arts, Lowe Art Gallery, University of Miami, April- May 1954, Palm Beach, Miami, oil, Pageantry, watercolor, Fence Line; Palm Beach Art League, 36th Annual Members’ Exhibition, March 1954, watercolor, gouache, Trio; Lowe Art Gallery, University of Miami, one man exhibit, March 1954,( The exhibit, a prize he won in 1953 for best overall work.) 25 paintings, drawings and prints; Clearwater Art Group 5th annual members exhibit, at Chamber of Commerce building, March 1954, honorable mention, Jockey; University of Florida, 1955, one man show; Ringling Museum of Art, 1955, Fifty Florida Painters, polymer tempera and oil, Prow; Society of The Four Arts, Contemporary American Painting Exhibition, January 1955; Alabama Watercolor Society Show, 1955, 1st purchase prize; Florida Artist Group, 6th Annual Circuit, Palm Beach Art League, April 1955, Antagonist; Florida Federation of Art, 29th Annual, Miami Beach Art Center, November 1955, first prize, a scene in Nokomis, Florida; Society of The Four Arts, Annual Exhibition, December 1955, Channing Hare Prize, best watercolor, Lightscape; Society of The Four Arts, University of Miami, Lowe Gallery, Patronato De Bellas Artes Y Museos Nacionales, Palm Beach, Miami, Havana, December 1955, January-February 1956, watercolor, Creek Island; Clearwater Art Group, 7th Annual Juried Show, Clearwater Chamber of Commerce, March 1956, 1st prize, Patterns for Power; Palm Beach Art League 38th Annual, March 1956; Ringling Museum of Art, Paintings of the Circus, March 1956, Circus Festival; Florida Federation of Art, 30th Annual, Norton Art Gallery, November 1956, honors for Crystal River; Society of The Four Arts, Contemporary American Painting Exhibition, December 1956, Channing Hare Award, watercolor, Lightscape, tempera, Tide-Grown; Audubon Artists, 15th Annual National Exhibition, National Academy of Art, New York City, January 1957, Audubon Artists Gold Medal, Bird Key Bay; Florida State Fair, Tampa, February 1957, prize, Lightscape, also shown in exhibition Four Florida Artists, Ringling Museum, 1956; Florida State Fair, Fine Arts Exhibit, January 29-February 9, 1957, Rivertown; Clearwater Art Group, 8th Annual Member’s Exhibit, Gulf Coast Art Center, March 1957, watercolor, Night Song; Florida Artist Group, annual exhibit and symposium, Morse Gallery, Rollins College, Winter Park, May 1957, Firebush; Society of The Four Arts, Contemporary American Paintings, December 1957, oil, Cast At Duck Rock, Channing Hare Award, oil, Gulf Stream Reef; Palm Beach Art League, 40th Annual, March 1958, purchase award, abstract in oil, Water Plants; Painting of the Year Exhibit, Atlanta Art Association galleries, May 1958, second prize for Sunken Ship; Society of The Four Arts, 1958; New Orleans Annual, Delgado Museum of Art, 1959; Florida Federation of Art, 32nd Annual Exhibition, November 13-28, 1958, Daytona Beach, oil and collage, Coral; Society of The Four Arts, 20th Annual, Contemporary American Paintings, December 1958, honorable mention, polymer, tempera, oil, Fire Bush; Sarasota Art Association, 9th Annual National Exhibition, Ringling Museum, March 1959, award, Deep Sea Fern; Fifth Annual Painting of the Year exhibit, Atlanta, April-May 1959; Society of The Four Arts, 21st Annual, Contemporary American Paintings, December 1959, gouache, Bayou Still Life; Governor’s All Florida Art Show, Ringling Museum of Art, January 9-February 2, 1960, polymer and oil, The Ninth Wave, ink, At the Bridge, print, Circus Queen; Sarasota Art Association Annual, April 1960, Ringling Museum, prize, Seaspell; 6th Annual Painting of the Year Exhibit, Atlanta Art Association, 1960; Society of The Four Arts, 22nd Annual, Contemporary American Paintings, December 1960, oil and tempera, Nightcoast; Florida State Fair, Tampa, 1961, prize, Rockdust, also exhibited in New York in Florida Showcase, Radio City Music Hall, Gallery 331, New Orleans; Other Florida State Fair Showings, 1957 Rivertown, 1958 Riders and Horses and Gulf Stream Reef, 1959 Firebush, 1960 Coral Tower and Seavine, 1961 Floaters, 1962 Resurge; Southeastern 16th Annual Exhibition at Atlanta Art Association Galleries, September-October 1961, 3rd prize, Moonwatch; Florida State Fair, Tampa, February 1964, prize, oil tempera, Wildwake; Associated American Artists, New York; Metropolitan Museum; Smithsonian Institute; Butler Museum, Ohio; National Academy of Design, NYC; Baltimore Museum; In England, one man show, Farnham Castle, by Royal Engineers; Tampa Art Institute; Sarasota Art Association; Stetson University; Lowe Gallery, University of Miami; University of Florida; AAA Gallery, New York City, 1959-1960; Barry College, Miami; American Federation of Art, Traveling Exhibit; Saidenberg Gallery, New York City; McClung Museum, Knoxville, Tennessee; Paintings in collections of the Guggenheim Museum, Whitney Museum of American Art; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden; Baltimore Museum of Art; The Delgado Museum; Birmingham Museum; High Museum; DeWitte Museum; Wadsworth Athenium; Walter P. Chrysler Museum. Directory: Listed in the Sarasota City Directory in 1955 as an artist with studio at 2428 Portland.
