Syd Solomon Monumental Abstract Expressionist Acrylic Painting "Shorespace"

Item Details

Syd Solomon (New York/Florida, 1917 – 2004)
Shorespace, 1986
Acrylic painting on canvas
Signed to lower right and to verso
Title and date inscribed to verso
Newspaper article attached to verso

Syd Solomon, an important American Abstract Expressionist artist, was born in Pennsylvania in 1917. He began painting in high school, and went on to study at the Art Institute of Chicago before becoming a camouflage artist for the United States Army, and serving in Europe during WWII. Considered one of the best camoufleurs, he created training manuals, and was awarded five bronze stars. At the conclusion of his service, Solomon attended L’Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. He returned to the States, settled in Sarasota with his wife, Ann Francine Cohen, and began to experiment with the innovative art materials of his time, including acrylic paint, aerosol sprays and resists. He soon after exhibited at the Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, and developed a national reputation. In the 1950s the Solomons began dividing their time between Sarasota and The Hamptons in New York, becoming influential members of the art world in both locations. Syd created the Institute of Fine Art at the New College in Sarasota in 1964, and was instrumental in bringing many influential artists to Florida including Larry Rivers, Philip Guston, John Chamberlain, James Rosenquist, Robert Rauschenberg and more, while in the Hamptons his home became a gathering place for artists and writers including, Alfred Leslie, Jim Dine, Ibram Lassaw, Saul Bellow, Barney Rosset, Arthur Kopit, and Harold Rosenberg.

Solomon’s work resides in numerous important private and public collections, including Baltimore Museum of Art; Chrysler Art Museum; Guggenheim Museum; High Museum of Art; New Orleans Museum of Art; Wadsworth Museum; Whitney Museum of American Art; Adelphi University; Cincinnati Art Museum; Philadelphia Museum of Art, John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, Florida and many others,

Condition

- canvas has lost some tension; scattered dust and accretion across painting surface; abrasion to lower right; minor nicks and wear to frame.

Dimensions

- measures frame; visible image measures 35.5" W x 49.5" H.

Item #

ITMG592526