biography of Solomon WILSON (1896-1974)

Birth place: Vilno, Russia (now Poland)

Death place: New York, NY

Addresses: NYC (immigrated 1901)/Provincetown, MA

Profession: Painter, screenprinter, teacher

Studied: Cooper Union, 1918; NAD, 1920-22; BAID; also with George Bellows, Robert Henri, G. Olinsky, and G. Maynard; ASL

Exhibited: S. Indp. A., 1928-29; PAFA Ann., 1934-66; NAD, 1938, 1940, 1945, 1946, 1968; AIC,1935, 1943, 1945; MMA, AV, 1943; Pepsi-Cola exh., 1944; VMFA, 1942, 1944, 1946; Critics Choice, NY, 1945; Nebraska AA 1945, 1946; LOC,1944; Provincetown AA, 1957 (prize); Corcoran Biennial, 1947 (prize); Univ. Iowa, 1945, 1946; CAM, 1939; WFNY, 1939; Carnegie Inst. Int., 1929-50 (prize,1947); Corcoran Gal biennials, 1935-53 (8 times; incl. 3rd hon men, 1947); Inst. Arts & Letters Ann., 1950; Butler Inst. Am. Art, 1965; Salons of Am.; WMAA. Other awards: Am. Red Cross, 1942; grant, Am. Acad. Arts & Letters

Member: NAD; Provincetown AA; Beachcombers Club; Nat. Ser. Soc.; Boston AC; Am. Artists Congress; Audubon Artists; Artists Equity Assn.; An Am. Group; Art Lg. Am.

Work: MMA; WMAA; LOC; Brooklyn Mus; Telfair Acad.; Lincoln H.S., NY; Brooklyn College; Am. Red Cross; LOC; BMA; SAM; St. Louis AM; Newark Mus; Westhampton, NY; Biro-Bidjan Mus., U.S.S.R.; Youngstown (OH) Mus. Art; Tel-Aviv Mus, Israel. Commissions: WPA murals in USPOs in NY at Delmar (1944) and Westhampton Beach (1946)

Comments: He called himself an "expressionistic realist" painter. During the summers he painted first in Rockport, MA (c.1927-46), and then across the Cape Cod Bay in Provincetown, MA (1947-on). In Provincetown, he was best known as the painter of the "Blessing of the Fleet." Preferred media: oils, casein, watercolors. Teaching: Am. Artists School, NYC, 1936-40; School Art Studies, 1945-49; ASL, 1968-69.

Sources: WW73; Earnest Watson, American Drawing (1957) & Landscape Painting (1962); Sol Wilson," Horizon Magazine (1961); Crotty, 71; Provincetown Painters, 185; Falk, Exh. Record Series.