Below
Excerpts
from Article "Yesterdays Stranger"
form
Rochdale Observer Saturday 15th March 1975
The last section is very potent for me as, sadly, he never made it to retirement. He died 29th April 1976 at the age of 56.
When the forebears are intellectually
accomplished Jews from the Baltic States who become implanted in the fertile
culture of Wales,
it is a pound to a Welsh button
the descendants accept the disciplines of the arts. In the case of L.
Solomon, who has such a background,
the art form of painting and sculpture won precedence over music. That
is Rochdale's good fortune. In 21 years as Principal of the RCA,
Mr Solomon has exercised a profound influence in transforming what, in
the eyes of many, was a culturally barren wasteland.
In outward appearance he is far removed from the popular conception of the hirsute, scruffily-dressed artist of London's Chelsea or the Seine's Left Bank... Quite different to the sartorial flamboyancy of his cousin, Mr Leo Abse, the loquacious MP for Pontypool West...
His friendliness and his approachability spring from his upbringing in a Jewish home in Swansea, where his father was a violinist who eventually formed his own orchestra….At first it seemed that music, not painting and sculpture would be his future. He started to learn the violin at the age of four. By the time he was nine, he seemed destined for the concert platform. That is until the temptation of playing out in the street with his friends grew too strong and violin practice suffered. "I started drawing faces. I was fascinated because I could get a good likeness" Even today at the age of 55, Mr Solomon recalls the discovery of his gift with enthusiasm. It is no surprise that portraiture remains his favourite art form. About the time of his realisation that he had a facility for drawing, the first of two artists who were to be important influences in his life, appeared.
He was Mervyn Levy, then a 14-year-old
school boy....Mervyn introduced Leo, still only 10 to the delights of
painting in oils.
"I decided then that art was the ting for me explained Mr Solomon,
whose friendship with Mr Levy is as firm today as it was in those far
off times in Swansea……While Mervyn Levy was the motivator, Professor
Neuschule, the Czech portrait painter, was Mr Solomon's inspiration. The
professor, who had walked out of Prague the day after watching Hitler's
Nazis walk into the Czech capital in 1938, arrived in Swansea, where Mr
Solomon was a senior student at the Swansea Art College.
He saw one of the Welsh man's paintings in an exhibition and asked the college Principal if the young artist could paint with him. "It was a priceless opportunity for me at that stage of my career" said Mr Solomon…….His reputation as a sculptor was established in 1967 when one of his works was accepted for the summer exhibition of the Royal Academy.
It was a bronze portrait bust of L S Lowry, the famous Lancashire industrial landscape artist. They were introduced in the 1950's by Mr Harold Hemingway, the Rochdale artist who was then on Mr Solomon's staff and they are still friends. With the true fervour of a Welshman, even though the language inflections are barely discernible today, Mr Solomon waxes lyrical about Lowry. "He is a marvellous artist. He reflects brilliantly the Northern industrial scene, the image and character of the people by acute vision and sensitivity to human personality and environment. There is something very personal about a Lowry painting which enables you to say 'That's by Lowry' It could not be done by anyone else"
Before age made the journey too much of a problem - he is now 86 or thereabouts - Lowry often travelled from his home at Mottram to visit Mr Solomon's classes and occasionally offer his advice to students. The breadth of Mr Solomon's interest in the arts is reflected in his friends especially those he made in his formative years in Swansea. Through Mervyn Levy he came to know the late lamented Dylan Thomas, regarded by Mr Solomon as one of the greatest Anglo-Welsh writers, before he penned his play on voices, "Under Milk Wood."
Others of his friends are Leonard Morris, the organist, Danny Jones, the composer who wrote the music for 'Under Milk Wood', Charles Fisher, the journalist and writer, and John Pritchard, the conductor. They met frequently under the aegis of a character Mr Solomon and his friends being Welshman engagingly called "Ralph the Bookshop"
He came to Rochdale via the Barrow school
of art, where he was the lecturer in charge.
He built up the Barrow school almost from scratch to 40 full time students
and 300 part-timers. Feeling his efforts merited, and his imminent marriage
demanded, a pay rise, he asked for one. He was told: "when you get
100 full-time students, we might consider it." The post at Rochdale
came up, he applied and got it. In those days Mr Solomon got the impression
that the future of the Rochdale College of art was on a knife edge. "I
felt that I had to make a success of it or else I would have been out
of a job" he said.
"Charlie Crowder was chairman of the Education Committee, Henry Robinson was Director of Education and they helped me a hell of a lot. Shortly after Cyril Smith became chairman of the committee and he helped me even more. All three were sympathetic to my efforts to build up the cultural climate in Rochdale"
How well Mr Solomon met the challenge is reflected not only in the College of Art itself, but in the way interest in the arts has developed in the town. From a full-time students' roll of nine, 90 part time students and two half time members of staff, the college now has 190 full-time students, 550 part-timers and 26 staff covering every conceivable art form from traditional painting, sculpture and drawing to lithography, typography and silversmithing.
In terms of recognition, Rochdale College of Art has one of the largest foundation courses outside the Polytechnics. For that reason it attracts students from all over the country and all over the world to take the courses which are, in effect, the first year of a four-year honours degree course….. "One must retain the standards of imagination, creativity and skills on the studio floor, keep up with modern trends and participate I change. Art and its appreciation is constantly changing"
To those who debunk modern art out of hand, he has this to say: "There is good and bad in modern art, just as there has been through the centuries. But one can only appreciate the good by making the effort to learn. You cannot appreciate without making the effort, and that goes for most things in life."…….
Retirement is still a few years ahead and he has still one ambition to fulfil. I want a degree course established in the Rochdale college of art. If it is, I shall retire a happy man to do the work I love best- painting and sculpture" For a man who has contributed so much to the life of the town of Rochdale by creating the opportunity for its people to share in this enjoyment of art, it is not too much to hope that his ambition will be fulfilled.