Syd Solomon

Syd Solomon, was born in Pennsylvania in 1917 and studied painting at the Art Institute of Chicago from 1935 to 1938. After he enlisted in the military in 1940, Solomon contributed to the design of camouflage for the California coast and the Corps in London during World War II. At the close of the war, Solomon enrolled at L'Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1945. Starting in the 1950s, Solomon and his wife, Annie, split their time between their two residences in East Hampton, New York and Sarasota, Florida. While in Sarasota, Solomon began to exhibit his work at the Ringling Museum of Art. By the 1960s, he had evolved to exhibiting work at prestigious institutions worldwide like the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York; the Clearwater Museum of Art in Florida; and the National Collection of Fine Arts in Washington, D.C.

Solomon was also a renowned teacher, establishing his own school in Florida, the Institute of Fine Art, at New College. Additionally, he taught at the Pittsburgh Art Institute, the Sarasota School of Art, and the University of Illinois, Urbana. He received several awards throughout his career including Painting of the Year from both the Whitney Museum of American Art and the 13th New England Annual. Solomon's work can be found at the Baltimore Museum of Art; the Guggenheim Museum; the High Museum in Atlanta, Georgia; the New Orleans Museum of Art; and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York.