Simeon Solomon (9 October 1840 – 14 August 1905) was a British painter associated with the
Pre-Raphaelites who was noted for his depictions of Jewish life[1] and same-sex desire.[2][3] His career was cut short as a result of public scandal following his arrests and convictions for attempted
sodomy in 1873 and 1874.[4]
Biography
Solomon was born into a prominent
Jewish family. He was the eighth and last child born to merchant
Michael (Meyer) Solomon and artist Catherine (Kate) Levy. Solomon was a younger brother to fellow painters
Abraham Solomon (1824–1862) and
Rebecca Solomon (1832–1886).
Born and educated in London, Solomon started receiving lessons in painting from his older brother around 1850. He started attending Carey's Art Academy in 1852. His older sister first exhibited her works at the
Royal Academy during the same year.
As a student at the
Royal Academy Schools, Solomon was introduced through
Dante Gabriel Rossetti to other members of the
Pre-Raphaelite circle, as well as the poet
Algernon Charles Swinburne and the painter
Edward Burne-Jones in 1857. His first exhibition was at the Royal Academy in 1858. He continued to hold exhibitions of his work at the Royal Academy between 1858 and 1872. In addition to the
literary paintings favoured by the Pre-Raphaelite school, Solomon's subjects often included scenes from the
Hebrew Bible and
genre paintings depicting Jewish life and rituals. His association with Swinburne led to his illustrating Swinburne's controversial novel Lesbia Brandon in 1865.[5]
In 1873, Simeon was arrested for soliciting in public toilets and having sex with a 60-year-old stableman named George Roberts. Both men were charged with indecent exposure and an attempt to commit buggery. Both were found guilty, fined £100 and sentenced to 18 months hard labour.[4][6] He was arrested again in 1874 in Paris on a similar charge, after which he was sentenced to spend three months in prison.[6][7][8][9]
In 1884, he was admitted to the
workhouse where he continued to produce work, but his life and talent were blighted by
alcoholism. Twenty years later in 1905, he died from complications brought on by his alcoholism. He was buried at the
Jewish Cemetery in
Willesden.
Pre-Raphaelite Painters from Collections in Lancashire, Tate Britain, London. 17 July 1913 – 28 September 1913[11]
1923
National Gallery of British Art (Tate). July 1923
1934
Jewish Art, Ben Uri Gallery. May 1934
1946
Subjects of Jewish Interest, Ben Uri Gallery. December 1946
1964
Exhibition of English Watercolours, Leger Galleries
1965
Exhibition of English Watercolours 18th & 19th Century, Leger Galleries
1966
Exhibition of Paintings and Drawings by Simeon Solomon, Durlacher Brothers Gallery, 538 Madison Ave, NYC. In May the exhibition moved to Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA. April–May 1966
1985
Acquisitions of the Friends of the Art Museums of Israel, Ben Uri Gallery. March 1985
Solomon: A family of painters—Abraham Solomon, 1823-1862, Rebecca Solomon, 1832-1886, Simeon Solomon, 1840-1905. Geffrye Museum, London, 8 November–31 December 1985; Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, 18 January–9 March 1986
2001
From Prodigy to Outcast: Simeon Solomon, Pre-Raphaelite Artist, Jewish Museum, London. March 2001–May 2001
2002
Solomon Art Exhibition, Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery. April 2002–June 2002
2005
Love Revealed: Simeon Solomon and the Pre-Raphaelites, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. 1 October 2005 – 15 January 2006
Waking Dreams: The Art of the Pre-Raphaelites from the Delaware Art Museum, Various Locations in the UK and USA. 19 March 2005 – 29 July 2007
2006
Love Revealed: Simeon Solomon and the Pre-Raphaelites, Museum Villa Stuck, Munich. 9 March–18 June 2006
Love Revealed: Simeon Solomon and the Pre-Raphaelites, Ben Uri Gallery, The London Jewish Museum of Art. 11 September–26 November 2006[12]
2008
Blake's Shadow: William Blake and his Artistic Legacy, Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester. 26 January 2008 – 20 April 2008
2010
The Pre-Raphaelites and Italy, Museo d'Arte della città di Ravenna, Ravenna, Italy. 28 February 2010 – 6 June 2010
The Pre-Raphaelites and Italy, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. 15 September 2010 – 5 December 2010[13]
In
Oscar Wilde's long prison letter to Lord Alfred Douglas, De Profundis, Wilde writes of his
bankruptcy: "That all my charming things were to be sold: my Burne-Jones drawings: my
Whistler drawings: my
Monticelli: my Simeon Solomons: my china: my Library…"
^Cohen, Richard I.Jewish Icons: Art and Society in Modern Europe, University of California Press, 1998, p. 160.
^Cruise, Colin, ed., Love Revealed: Simeon Solomon and the Pre-Raphaelites, London: Merrell, 2005, p. 9.
^Seymour, Gayle M. Simeon Solomon and the Biblical Construction of Marginal Identity in Victorian England, Journal of Homosexuality, Volume 33, Issue 3–4, 1997.
^Peter Horne, Reina Lewis, Outlooks: lesbian and gay sexualities and visual cultures, Routledge, 1996,
ISBN0-415-12468-9, p. 70.
^
abWilliam A. Peniston, "Pederasts and others: urban culture and sexual identity in nineteenth-century Paris", Haworth gay & lesbian studies, Routledge, 2004,
ISBN1-56023-486-5, pp. 77–78.
^Michael Matthew Kaylor, "Secreted Desires: The Major Uranians: Hopkins, Pater and Wilde", Michael Matthew Kaylor, 2006,
ISBN80-210-4126-9, p. 81.
^Jeffrey Merrick, Bryant T. Ragan, "Homosexuality in modern France", Studies in the history of sexuality, Oxford University Press US, 1996,
ISBN0-19-509303-8, p. 134.
^Kaylor, Michael Matthew, Secreted Desires: The Major Uranians - Hopkins, Pater and Wilde, Masaryk University, Brno: 2006, p. 82 Note 1.
Geoffrey Wigoder, "Everyman's Judaica: an encyclopedic dictionary", Keter Publishing House Jerusalem, 1975,
ISBN978-0-7065-1412-4, p. 562
Further reading
Colin Cruise et al. (ed), Love Revealed: Simeon Solomon and the Pre-Raphaelites, London: Merrett/Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, 2005,
ISBN1-85894-311-6
Simon Reynolds, The Vision of Simeon Solomon, Oak Knoll Press, 1984,
ISBN0-685-30068-4
Solomon: A family of painters: Abraham Solomon, 1823–1862, Rebecca Solomon, 1832–1886, Simeon Solomon, 1840–1905: Geffrye Museum, London, 8 November–31 December 1985 [and] Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery 18 January–9 March 1986, Inner London Education Authority, 1986,
ISBN0-7085-9968-0