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 and same-sex desire. His career was cut short as a result of public scandal following his arrests and convictions for attempted sodomy in 1873 and 1874.

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. He produced illustrations for Swinburne's controversial novel Lesbia Brandon in 1865. In 1871 he commissioned a private printing of a prose poem of his own composition, A Vision of Love Revealed in Sleep. A contemporary reviewer in The Jewish Chronicle described it as "an account (with episodes) of a series of progressive manifestations of embodied love, seen through the medium of a trance", entirely "devoted to the glorification of pure Love ... perfect, peaceful, and passionless". The reviewer was pleased to find the text "imbued throughout with the spirit of religious belief and reverence". He assured the reader that "there is not a sentence in it which could raise a blush to the cheek of the often quoted 'young person', for whose moral welfare reviewers are so solicitous." Solomon distributed most of the copies to his friends; surviving copies are rare. In 1873, Solomon 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. Solomon was arrested again in 1874 in Paris on a similar charge, after which he was sentenced to spend three months in prison. In the 1880s and 1890s, after his prosecutions, he was unable to support himself and suffered from alcoholism. He no longer exhibited, but continued to produce artworks. He spent several stints in the St. Giles Workhouse. During this time Solomon was supported by his family, and friends, including Frederick Hollyer who produced reproductions of Solomon's work. On 14 August 1905, he died from complications brought on by his alcoholism. He was buried at the Jewish Cemetery in Willesden. His work was collected by such figures as Oscar Wilde, John Addington Symonds, Count Eric Stenbock, and Walter Pater. Examples of his work are on permanent display at the Victoria and Albert Museum, at Wightwick Manor in Wolverhampton, and at Leighton House in west London. Retrospectives of his work were held at the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery in 2005–6 and at the Ben Uri Gallery (London) in 2006.

Exhibitions

1900-1929

1930-1959

1960-1989

1990-present

Gallery

In literature

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…"

References and sources