Rosalind Fox Solomon (born 1930) is an American photographer based in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Life and education

Solomon was born on 2 April 1930 in

Highland Park, Illinois Highland Park is a suburban city located in the southeastern part of Lake County, Illinois, United States, about north of downtown Chicago. Per the 2020 census, the population was 30,176. Highland Park is one of several municipalities located o ...

.Center for Creative Photography Acquires the Rosalind Solomon Archive
, Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona. Retrieved 21 July 2016. She graduated from Highland Park High School in 1947. She attended Goucher College in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in

Political Science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

in 1951. She married Joel W. (Jay) Solomon (1921–1984), with whom she had two children. The marriage ended in divorce. Solomon sailed to Belgium and France with The

Experiment in International Living The Experiment in International Living, or The Experiment, is a worldwide program offering homestays, language, arts, community service, ecological adventure, culinary, and regional and cultural exploration programs of international cross-cultur ...

. She studied intermittently with

Lisette Model Lisette Model (born Elise Amelie Felicie Stern; November 10, 1901 – March 30, 1983) was an Austrian-born American photographer primarily known for the frank humanism of her street photography. A prolific photographer in the 1940s and a member ...

from 1971 to 1977.

Before photography

Later Solomon became the Southern Regional Director of the

. In this capacity, she visited communities throughout the Southern United States, recruiting families to host international guests and interact with other cultures in a personal way. In August 1963, Solomon traveled to

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

for an interview with the Equal Employment Department of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which was then establishing a program for part-time recruiter–consultants in various regions of the United States. Solomon and a group of

USAID The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government that is primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance. With a budget of over $27 bi ...

staff including

Roger Wilkins Roger Wood Wilkins (January 29, 1932 – March 26, 2017) was an American lawyer, civil rights leader, professor of history, and journalist who served as the 15th United States Assistant Attorney General under President Lyndon B. Johnson from 19 ...

(nephew of Roy Wilkins) joined the

March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, also known as simply the March on Washington or The Great March on Washington, was held in Washington, D.C., on August 28, 1963. The purpose of the march was to advocate for the civil and economic righ ...

, during which Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous "

I Have a Dream "I Have a Dream" is a public speech that was delivered by American civil rights activist and Baptist minister, Martin Luther King Jr., during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963. In the speech, King called ...

" speech. Subsequently, in her work for USAID, Solomon traveled to

historically black colleges Historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the intention of primarily serving the African-American community. Mo ...

in Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, and Tennessee where she spoke to students and faculty about overseas employment opportunities.

Photography

In 1968 Solomon's volunteer work with the

brought her to Japan where she stayed with a family near Tokyo. There, at age 38, Solomon began to use an Instamatic camera to communicate her feelings and thoughts. This was the starting point for her photography practice, which also includes prose related to her life experiences. Upon her return to the United States, Solomon photographed regularly. She purchased a

Nikkormat Nikkormat (Nikomat in Japan) was a brand of cameras produced by the Japanese optics company Nippon Kogaku K. K., as a consumer version of the professional Nikon brand. Nikkormat cameras, produced from 1965 until 1978, were simpler and more affo ...

in 1969 and in the garden shed she processed 35 mm

black and white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

film and printed her first pictures. In 1971, she began intermittent studies with

during visits to New York City. By 1974 she was using a

medium format Medium format has traditionally referred to a film format in photography and the related cameras and equipment that use film. Nowadays, the term applies to film and digital cameras that record images on media larger than the used in 35&nbs ...

camera. Dolls, children, and manikins were some of her first subjects, along with portraits and rituals. She works with black and white film exclusively. In 1975, Solomon began photographing at the Baroness Erlanger Hospital in

Chattanooga, Tennessee Chattanooga ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. Located along the Tennessee River bordering Georgia, it also extends into Marion County on its western end. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, ...

. She photographed people recovering from operations, wounds, and illness. In early 1977, Solomon photographed

William Eggleston William Eggleston (born July 27, 1939) is an American photographer. He is widely credited with increasing recognition for color photography as a legitimate artistic medium. Eggleston's books include ''William Eggleston's Guide'' (1976) and ''The ...

, his family and friends in Tennessee and Mississippi. She moved to Washington where she photographed artists and politicians for the series "Outside the White House" in 1977 and 1978. In 1978 and 1979, she also photographed in the

Guatemalan Highlands The Guatemalan Highlands is an upland region in southern Guatemala, lying between the Sierra Madre de Chiapas to the south and the Petén lowlands to the north. Description The highlands are made up of a series of high valleys enclosed by moun ...

.Rosalind Solomon
. Women Photographers: UCR/California Museum of Photography. Retrieved 20 July 2016. Her interest in how people cope with adversity, led her to witness a

shaman Shamanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with what they believe to be a spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spiritu ...

's rites and a funeral and made photographs in Easter processions. In 1980, Solomon began her work in Ancash, Peru where she returned intermittently for over 20 years. She made photographs in cemeteries where damage from the

1970 Ancash earthquake The 1970 Ancash earthquake (also known as the Great Peruvian earthquake) occurred on 31 May off the coast of Peru in the Pacific Ocean at . Combined with a resultant landslide, it is the most catastrophic natural disaster in the history of Peru ...

was still apparent. She continued photographing shamans, cemeteries, funerals and other rituals. She also photographed people of a subsistence economy surviving the extremes of life through Catholic, Evangelist, and Indigenous rites. With a fellowship from the

American Institute of Indian Studies The American Institute of Indian Studies (AIIS), founded in 1961, is a consortium of 90 universities and colleges in the United States that promotes the advancement of knowledge about India in the U.S. It carries out this purpose by: awarding fello ...

, in 1981 Solomon began photographing festival rites in India. She found an expression of female energy and power in the forms of the

goddess A goddess is a female deity. In many known cultures, goddesses are often linked with literal or metaphorical pregnancy or imagined feminine roles associated with how women and girls are perceived or expected to behave. This includes themes of s ...

figures created in the sculptors' communities of Kolkata (Calcutta). In 1982 and 1983, she continued this work. While there, she photographed artists, including the painter, Ganesh Pyne and the filmmaker, Satyagit Ray. She also made portraits of the

Dalai Lama Dalai Lama (, ; ) is a title given by the Tibetan people to the foremost spiritual leader of the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" school of Tibetan Buddhism, the newest and most dominant of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The 14th and current Dal ...

and photographed Prime Minister

Indira Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (; Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and a central figure of the Indian National Congress. She was elected as third prime minister of India in 1966 ...

. In 1987 and 1988, Solomon photographed people with

AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...

alone, with their families, and with their lovers. The project resulted in the exhibition, ''Portraits in the Time of AIDS'' at the Grey Gallery of Art of

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

in 1988. In 1988, with concerns about the rise of ethnic violence in the world, she made her first trip to Poland. In 2003, she returned to work again in Poland. In 1988 Solomon's interest in race relations and ethnic violence, took her to

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

and

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. She continued the project in 1989 and 1990 in Northern Ireland and South Africa. In the 1990s, she visited hospitals in

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

and rehabilitation centers for victims of mines in

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...

, and photographed victims of the American/

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

near Hanoi. Solomon photographed in Israel and the West Bank for five months during 2010 and 2011, part of '' This Place''. She made portraits of people in Israel and the West Bank. She was photographing Palestinians in Jenin, and happened to be only a few minutes away when Israeli–Palestinian actor and director of

The Freedom Theatre The Freedom Theatre (Arabic: مسرح الحرية) is a Palestinian community-based theatre and cultural center in the Jenin refugee camp in the northern part of the West Bank. Established in 2006, the theatre aims to generate cultural resistan ...

Juliano Mer-Khamis Juliano Mer-Khamis ( he, ג'וליאנו מר ח'מיס; ar, جوليانو مير خميس; born Juliano Khamis; 29 May 19584 April 2011) was an Israeli/Palestinian actor, director, filmmaker, and political activist of Jewish and Palestinian ...

, was gunned down in April 2011.

Publications

Books, catalogues, etc of Solomon's photography

* ''Union Depot: Photographed 1971–1973.'' Rosalind Solomon, 1973. Portfolio of 22 photographs. Edition of 100. * ''Rosalind Solomon, Washington: May 15 – June 29, 1980.'' Washington, DC: Corcoran Gallery, 1980. Twenty-page exhibition catalogue, text by Jane Livingston. * ''Rosalind Solomon: Venezia, 13. VII – 14. VIII. 1982.'' Venice: Ikona Photo Gallery, 1982. Eighteen-page exhibition catalogue, ed.

Živa Kraus Živa Kraus (born 4 October 1945 in Zagreb, Croatia, Yugoslavia) is a Croatian painter. Early life Kraus was born in Zagreb to a Jewish family, father Ivo Kraus and mother Herma (née Delpin). Her twin brother is Ognjen Kraus, president of the ...

, text by Ljerka Mifka. * ''Rosalind Solomon: India: An exhibition of photographs.'' New Delhi: M. Pistor for the United States Information Service, 1983. Sixteen-page exhibition catalogue, text by Will Stapp. * Rosalind Solomon. ''Earth Rites: Photographs from inside the Third World.'' San Diego, CA: Museum of Photographic Arts, 1986. Twelve-page exhibition catalogue, text by

Arthur Ollman Arthur Ollman (born March 6, 1947) is an American photographer, author, curator, professor emeritus (San Diego State University (2006—2019), and founding director of The Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego. He served as MoPA director from 19 ...

. * Rosalind Solomon. ''Portraits in the Time of AIDS.'' New York:

Grey Art Gallery The Grey Art Gallery is New York University’s fine art museum, located on historic Washington Square Park, in New York City's Greenwich Village. As a university art museum, the Grey Art Gallery functions to collect, preserve, study, document, in ...

& Studio Center,

, 1988. . Exhibition catalogue, text by Thomas Sokolowski. * ''Rosalind Solomon: Photographs, 1976–1987.'' Tucson, Arizona: Etherton Gallery, 1988. Thirty-two-page exhibition catalogue. With an essay by Arthur Ollman. * ''Rosalind Solomon: El Perú y Otros Lugares = Peru and Other Places.'' Lima: Museo de Arte de Lima, 1996. Exhibition catalogue. With an introductory essay by and Jorge Villacorta; text in Spanish and English. * Rosalind Solomon. ''Chapalingas.'' Göttingen: Steidl, 2003. . Photographs and texts by Solomon, catalogue essays by , Ingrid Sischy and Gabriel Conrath-Scholl. Text in German, English and French. Published to accompany an exhibition a Die Photographische Sammlung/SK Stiftung Kultur, Cologne. * Rosalind Solomon. ''Polish Shadow.'' Göttingen: Steidl, 2006. . * Rosalind Fox Solomon. ''Them.'' London: Mack, 2014. . * Rosalind Fox Solomon. ''Got to Go.'' London: Mack, 2016. . * Rosalind Fox Solomon. ''Liberty Theater.'' London: Mack, 2018. . With an essay, "The Play of Freedoms", by

Stanley Wolukau-Wanambwa Stanley Wolukau-Wanambwa (born 1980) is a Ugandan-born British photographer, writer, and educator, living in the USA. His series ''One Wall a Web'' has been shown in a solo exhibition at Light Work in New York and the book of the work won the Pa ...

. * Rosalind Fox Solomon. ''The Forgotten.'' London: Mack, 2021. .

Recordings by Solomon

*''Corazón: Songs and Music Recorded in Peru by Rosalind Solomon.'' Folkways Records FSS 34035, 1985. Recorded, produced and with photographs by Solomon. Reissued by Smithsonian Folkways. Describe
here
in the Smithsonian Institution's website. *''Indian Love Rites: Durga Puja and Kali Puja in Calcutta.'' Ethnic Folkways Records FE 4349, 1986. Recording produced by Solomon, and with photographs by her. The sounds of

Durga Puja Durga Puja ( bn, দুর্গা পূজা), also known as Durgotsava or Sharodotsava, is an annual Hindu festival originating in the Indian subcontinent which reveres and pays homage to the Hindu goddess Durga and is also celebrated ...

and Kali Puja. Reissued by Smithsonian Folkways.Describe
here
in the Smithsonian Institution's website.

Other publications

* John Szarkowski. ''Mirrors and Windows: American Photography Since 1960.'' Catalog of exhibition held at the Museum of Modern Art, 1978, and elsewhere, 1978–1980. , . * Susan Kismaric. ''American Children: Photographs from the Collection of the Museum of Modern Art.'' New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1980. , . * Keith F Davis, ed. ''Wanderlust: Work by eight contemporary photographers from the Hallmark photographic collection.'' Kansas City, MO: Hallmark Cards. Distribution: Albuquerque, New Mexico: University of New Mexico Press, 1987. . * Susan Kismaric. ''American Politicians: Photographs from 1843 to 1993.'' New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1994. , , . * Vincent Gerard and Cedric Laty. ''Eggleston on Film.'' 85 minutes. 2005 * ''Amerika: die soziale Landschaft 1940 bis 2006: Meisterwerke amerikanischer Fotografie America: The social landscape from 1940 until 2006: Masterpieces of American photography.'' Bologna, Italy: Damiani; Vienna: Kunsthalle Wien, 2006. . Catalogue of an exhibition held at Kunsthalle Wien. * Charlotte Cotton, ed. ''This Place''. London: Mack, 2014. . Photographs of Israel and the West Bank by Frédéric Brenner,

Wendy Ewald Wendy Ewald (born 1951) is an American photographer and educator. Early life and education Wendy Ewald was born in Detroit, Michigan, graduated from Abbot Academy in 1969 and attended Antioch College between 1969 and 1974, as well as the Massac ...

Martin Kollar Martin may refer to: Places * Martin City (disambiguation) * Martin County (disambiguation) * Martin Township (disambiguation) Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Austral ...

, Josef Koudelka,

Jungjin Lee Jungjin Lee (born 1961) is a Korean photographer and artist who currently lives and works in New York City. Background Jungjin Lee was born in Korea in 1961. She studied calligraphy in childhood and majored in ceramics at Hongik University, g ...

Gilles Peress Gilles Peress (born December 29, 1946) is a French photographer and a member of Magnum Photos. Peress began working with photography in 1970, having previously studied political science and philosophy in Paris. One of Peress' first projects exa ...

, Fazal Sheikh,

Stephen Shore Stephen Shore (born October 8, 1947) is an American photographer known for his images of banal scenes and objects, and for his pioneering use of color in art photography. His books include ''Uncommon Places'' (1982) and ''American Surfaces'' (199 ...

, Solomon,

Thomas Struth Thomas Struth (born 11 October 1954) is a German photographer who is best known for his ''Museum Photographs'' series, family portraits and black and white photographs of the streets of Düsseldorf and New York taken in the 1970s. Struth lives ...

Jeff Wall Jeffrey Wall, Order of Canada, OC, Royal Society of Canada, RSA (born September 29, 1946) is a Canadian artist best known for his large-scale back-lit Cibachrome photographs and art history writing. Early in his career, he helped define the Van ...

and Nick Waplington. *Gabriele Conrath-Scholl and Stephan Berg, eds. ''Mit anderen Augen. Das Porträt in der zeitgenössischen Fotografie = With Different Eyes: The Portrait in Contemporary Photography.'' Cologne: Snoeck, 2016. . Catalogue of the 2016 exhibition.

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

Group exhibitions

Major collections

In 2007, the University of Arizona's

Center for Creative Photography The Center for Creative Photography (CCP), established in 1975 and located on the University of Arizona's Tucson campus, is a research facility and archival repository containing the full archives of over sixty of the most famous American pho ...

acquired Solomon's archive, which includes her photographic archive, books and video work.

Awards

*1979:

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...

*1989:

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...

fellowship *1980s: Grants from the

*2011: Honorary degree from Goucher College *2016: Lucie Award in Achievement in Portraiture category *2019: International Center of Photography Infinity Award: Lifetime Achievement

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Solomon, Rosalind Fox 1930 births Living people Photographers from Illinois National Endowment for the Arts Fellows People from Highland Park, Illinois Goucher College alumni 20th-century American photographers 21st-century American photographers 20th-century American women photographers 21st-century American women photographers