The Solomon Collection: Dürer to Degas and Beyond

Devoting himself to science didn’t stop Arthur Solomon from building a formidable and varied art collection. A co-founder of the Biophysical Laboratory at Harvard in the 1930s, he was honoured by the British government for his work on radar during the Second World War. He also had a taste for Renaissance prints by the likes of Dürer and Martin Schongauer and for French 19th-century paintings, which feature prominently in this exhibition comprising some 135 works collected by Solomon and his wife, Mariot (24 May–17 August). Though most of the work on display dates from before the 20th century, there are also sculptures by Wilhelm Lehmbruck, drawings by Edward Hopper and a number of contemporary pieces, which the Solomons began collecting in the 1970s. These include works by Jules Olitski, such as a grey impasto painting he dedicated to the Solomons, and acrylic paintings by Larry Poons that lend swirling dynamism to long vertical canvases.

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The Masseuse (mid 1890s; cast 1919–37 or later), Edgar Degas. Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Cambridge. Photo courtesy Harvard Art Museums; © President and Fellows of Harvard College

Apple Trees on a Hillside near Saint-Lô (c. 1850), Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot. Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Cambridge. Photo courtesy Harvard Art Museums; © President and Fellows of Harvard College

The Upper Part of a Barn Door (1865), Félix Henri Bracquemond. Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Cambridge. Photo courtesy Harvard Art Museums; © President and Fellows of Harvard College