THOUGHTS ON HISTORICAL MEMORY

On January 31, Michael Kimmelman, the New York Times art critic, wrote an article on Joseph Solman and the "Ten", a group of artists in the 1930's. The Ten? No, not Henri's "Eight", but the Ten. The Eight, I knew, fought against the National Academy, but were superseded by the Armory show and the Europeans. The Ten, I learned, fought against the Whitney, but were apparently even more quickly overshadowed by America's love affair with Abstract Expressionism. The Ten? Of the group, only Gottlieb and Rothko seem to have survived in public notice.

I began to reflect on how many talented artists have been lost in the river of history, occasionally but rarely resurfacing further downstream. One can witness today's names in current art magazines. One can read historical letters and journals and learn of the artists who were friends or enemies, respected or disdained, by the historically ordained. Would we know Charles Camoin if Cézanne had not written him?

Surely this is a cause for artistic despair, one thinks -- so much passion and dedication lost. It is a basic human condition that, while we may wage our artistic battles in solitude, no matter how independently we can survive, at the end of the day we crave recognition from our fellow man. But art has a stronger memory than most human endeavors. Art is powerful, as Delacroix once commented, because it persists long after the artist is gone, even forgotten.

Solman, at 90, is still painting in his studio above the Second Avenue Deli in the East Village of Manhattan. He may or may not ever be entered into our survey tomes, pondered by art history freshmen as they follow their instructions and categorize and memorize and date, but the legacy of his work exists. Solman remains in every house and every gallery where someone stares at his work with wonder. The joy of art does not reside in fame or value appreciation, but in inspiration and the subtle human connection that happens between the artist's art and viewer.

Giff Constable
February 1, 1999

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