Oil Painting by Sid Solomon

January and February 2008 at the Art On Rotation Gallery Thayer Memorial Library

Although Sid Solomon was born in Springfield, he spent his early years in Worcester, Mass. In high school, his first prize-winning entry in the Service Clubs Essay Competition led to a scholarship to the Worcester Art Museum for three years, culminating in a graduation certificate, and an Art career spanning more than forty years.

After three years of Army service and a year teaching Art, he became a portrait painter in South Florida. This experience was followed by further study with nationally-known portraitist and teacher, Edmund Archer, at the Corcoran School in Washington, DC.
As a part of his course of training, he copied Rembrandts and other old masters in the National Gallery. He also taught at the Corcoran, and for the U.S. Veterans Administration, as well as painting a number of important government, military and industrial leaders and their families.
After three years in the Nation's capital, Mr. Solomon traveled through the East and the South, painting portraits of over a thousand persons at art festivals. During this period he continued his studies and attained proficiency in many areas of arts and crafts, which enabled him to become a Director in the Army Arts and Crafts Program of the U.S. Department of Defense.

An extended leave from his government teaching position permitted him to return to graduate school where, after nine years of intense concentration, he was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Art Theory and Criticism by the University of Georgia. While completing the requirements for this degree, Mr. Solomon worked as Director of Arts and Craftshops for the 7th Army Training Command in Grafenwoehr, Germany. He had the advantage of travel and study in the major art centers of Europe, and, as a result, his doctoral dissertation broke new ground in defining the concept of aesthetic quality as used in criticism.

Since 1980, Sid Solomon has maintained a studio in Worcester, Mass., where he continues to improve his understanding of drawing and painting the human figure at weekly sessions of the Worcester Life Drawing Group, which he coordinates. He has, in addition, become a prolific plein aire painter of the colorful New England landscape in all its seasons, including the depth of winter. He says, "A good portrait painter can paint anything."

Sid will be exhibiting at the Art On Rotation Gallery at The Thayer Memorial Library Main St. Lancaster, MA January 4 through February 29, 2008. The public is invited.