Alan R. Solomon papers, 1907-1970, bulk 1944-1970

Correspondence documents Solomon's education, teaching appointments, and his relationships with various artists, publishers, museums and other art institutions, and colleagues.

Correspondence with Centro de Artes Visuales, including with Jorge Romero Brest and Alfredo Rodriguez Arias, relates to proposals for New York performances by the organization, and the possibility of circulating Solomon's Young Italians exhibition in South America.

Correspondence with Cornell University relates primarily to Solomon's appointments to various teaching positions at Cornell in the 1950s, and his promotion to Associate Professor of Fine Arts in 1962. Documentation relating to the Andrew Dickson White Museum of Art, which Solomon established in 1953, is limited to correspondence regarding a dispute over who should replace Solomon as director of the museum in 1961.

Correspondence with Harvard relates to Solomon's studies at Harvard College and later Harvard University, including the completion of his doctorate and his thesis on Picasso, and his teaching appointments at Harvard. It also documents Solomon's gifts to the Harvard College Fund. Records relating to specific courses taken and taught by Solomon can be found in Series 5: Teaching and Study Files.

Correspondence with the Jewish Museum relates primarily to the details of negotiations and terms under which Solomon was hired as the museum's director in 1962, but provides only cursory documentation of Solomon's Rauschenberg and Johns exhibitions in 1963 and 1964 respectively. Additional documentation on Solomon's work at the museum can be found in the Jewish Museum subject file in Series 6.

Publishers and publications represented here include James Fitzsimmons, of the publication Art International, and the Swedish art review, Konstrevy, for whom Solomon wrote articles on Jim Dine. Correspondence with National Educational Television provides contractual details of Solomon's appointment as a writer and consultant for the "Art U. S. A." series on contemporary American painters, and documents expenses related to that role.

Correspondence with Frank Lloyd of Marlborough-Gerson Gallery, Inc., includes details of a proposed project to establish an International Art Center in Rome.

Three folders of correspondence with Eugene Schwartz document Solomon's interest in the market for non-original works of art, or works about American art. Solomon worked with Schwartz's Mass Originals, Inc. corporation, on an enterprise to create fifty-minute taped lectures, with slides, for sales to universities, museums, and libraries. The correspondence includes letters from Schwartz outlining his proposals to create a market for the lectures, letters to artists asking for their participation in the project, and the responses of some of the artists.

Correspondence with the University of California relates to arrangements for speaking engagements, and also references Solomon's appointment to the University of California, Irvine, in 1968, and arrangements for the exhibition, Tony DeLap: The Last Five Years, 1963-1968 (1969), at the Art Gallery, University of California, Irvine.

There is one folder of correspondence with Connie Trimble, who provided secretarial services for Solomon in the 1960s. This correspondence provides details of arrangements for various projects in which Solomon was involved, including Expo '67.

Individual items of note include a postcard and Christmas card from Christo and Jeanne-Claude; a letter from Ray Johnson; two postcards from Claes Oldenburg; a postcard from Robert Rauschenberg with a photo of Rauschenberg and others, including Christo and Jean-Claude; and a 1966 greeting card from Galeria Bonino, New York, which includes a limited edition signed and numbered print by Luis Felipe Noé.

The bulk of the correspondence documenting Solomon's work as an exhibition organizer and curator can generally be found in Series 8: Exhibition Files. Additional records documenting his relationships with artists and art organizations can be found in Series 6: Subject Files.

Records are arranged alphabetically by correspondent or subject, and chronologically thereafter.

Series is scanned in entirety.