In early 1999, I was lucky enough to find myself in San Francisco with work. Our HQ was in the city although I was living in Manhattan, NY at the time. Having a weekend to myself, I decided to get out of the hotel and wander around a bit. I soon found myself near Union Square browsing the various art galleries. Walking past one called Eleonore Austerer, I spotted a painting that caught my eye and went in to the gallery where I was warmly greeted by Eleonore and her Gallery Manager, Gregory Lind. We started chatting about the work in the window - it was apparently a work by an American artist, Joseph Solman. I had never heard of him. Walking around the exhibition and viewing a few other works from the ‘back room’ that weren’t on display, my first purchases were made - two monotypes - ‘Abandoned Building’ and ‘Summer Reading’. I was kindly given the Da Capo book on Solman to read and returned to the gallery several times on subsequent visits with a purchase of my first gouache (a 'Study for Parking’) and my first oil on canvas (‘Antiques’).

At the end of 1999, Eleonore very kindly suggested I contact Amnon Goldman at the Mercury Gallery in Boston - Solman’s main dealer. A couple of calls later and I was on my way to Boston to meet Amnon and see his ‘A Retrospective of Works from 1932 - 1999’ exhibition of Solman’s work at the gallery. If I wasn’t hooked before, I was seriously hooked now! ‘Blue Basin’ was added to my collection along with my first ‘subway’ and another monotype. The collection continued to grow with subsequent visits to Boston. The large c1950 ‘Studio Interior’ was acquired in early 2000 along with ‘Still Life with Red Brush’ and the ‘Venus of 23rd Street’ gouache. I was lucky enough to meet Joe on a number of occasions - exhibition openings, birthday parties and various dinners and visited his home and studio in New York.

Over the next few years, I continued to collect Solman’s work. Although my gallery visits were somewhat curtailed after I returned to England in 2001, my relationship with Amnon continued from strength to strength with our shared enthusiasm for Solman’s work.

In March 2003, I took over Six Chapel Row Contemporary Art, an amazing and well established art gallery in Bath, Somerset, England. My plans for a Solman show were quickly being discussed with Amnon, Joe and Paul Solman (Joe’s son). After a lot of planning and logistics, in October 2003, the exhibition “Seventy Years of Painting” opened at my gallery with a selection of works from my collection and the Mercury Gallery. The exhibition received amazing reviews with both local, regional and national press coverage - including The Times selecting it as one of the years best exhibitions!). The artist himself made the trip from New York to Bath to see the exhibition, speak to the press and be our honoured guest at a private dinner on 25th October.

The following day, we all slowly walked around Bath - I was petrified that Joe would trip over the uneven pavement - especially as he seemed to be more interested in the chimney pots and roof of the buildings than where he was walking! Over the weekend, much laughter was had and a lot of Whiskey was drunk - it was one of the highlights of both my gallery and personal life.

My interest in Solman continued - more works on paper and the occasional painting were added to the collection and I continued to research and collect as much reference material as I could find. I sold the art gallery in 2006 and moved back into IT management - not nearly as exciting.

With Joe’s passing in April 2008 at the age of 99, The Times and The Independent newspapers in the UK ran full obituaries. I was truly honoured to be invited by the Solman family to join a remembrance service for Joe, and my wife and I flew to New York in May 2008 to pay our respects and share stories of what an amazing man and artist he was.

On my last count, we have around 55 works by Solman in our collection - everything from ink sketches to large paintings - many of which are displayed on the walls of our house (and my Parent’s house as well!). I’ve included a couple of photos of works in-situ at home below.

I am also honoured to have been entrusted to catalog and store over 250 early drawings by Solman. My interest in American art history and the critical part that Solman played in it continues to grow - hence the website as an attempt to ‘spread the word’. I hope you enjoy the history and the amazing art of Joseph Solman.