I just finished reading the piece Ken Greenleaf wrote about my dear friend of blessed memory, Bob Solotaire (see “People, Unhid”). It’s beautifully written. You truly captured his spirit. How sad it makes us — his old pals — to know how much he would have been moved by it. Bob and I were freshmen and roommates at Bard College in 1948, and stayed close friends ever since. I have the second painting he ever did and of course paintings from most of the years between then and now. How right you are! Bob loved NYC like no buddy I ever knew. We purchased one of his last paintings, “Astroland.” It’s big, and all of him is in it. But then again all of him is in our entire collection of Solotaires.
My wife Barbara and our fellow ex-Bardian Sherman Yellen and I have been deeply touched by your true insight into who Bob was. Your end paragraph: “This understated presence of humanity . . .” That is good writing. Damn good! Your understanding of why career success eluded him is right on. Robert was too sweet, too human, and too innocent for them! Fuck ’em — the work exists, and it is the best of who we all are!
I’m pushing 80 and it’s like being in a war zone. I’ve had to accept death as part of our life, but as dear friends go I have found that they are not completely gone. Bob is alive in whatever I am. I think of him often, and it always brings a warm smile to my face. We did have a hell of a ride, fascinating, fun, and loving. I thank you with all whoever I am.
Ted Flicker
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Related:
People, unhid, Summer people, Familiar paths, More 
- People, unhid
The late Bob Solotaire collected views the same way he collected friends, and he had a great many of both.
- Summer people
Ever wonder why there is so much professional-level art made and shown in Maine, a state with a total population less than that of many minor cities? One answer is that following the fame of people like Winslow Homer, creative types flocked to Maine, often to artists' colonies.
- Familiar paths
Terry Hilt's show of watercolors at Aucocisco provides an opportunity to consider the role of modernism in today's art.
- The jury's out
Juried shows are a terrible idea.
- Looking directly
OK, summer’s here and it’s time to please the visitors.
- The sad ghost of postmodernism
It sticks around, but doesn't always work.
- Seeking Relevance
Here in Maine we're used to living in a mediated landscape. Painters have been reframing how we see the shore and woods for generations, defining what's worth looking at for a larger audience.
- Groups + solos
First on the list of this year's points of interest is the anticipated Portland Museum of Art Biennial, which opens in early April.
- Deep layers
Throughout his long career Mark Wethli's work has been studied, careful, and formally rigorous.
- Looming dark
In "Twilight," now showing at the Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art, four artists pull some roots from the Gothic Romantic tradition and rearrange them to fit their needs.
- Growing Maine art
Long ago an art critic of my acquaintance remarked that New York was a border town to Europe, and until fairly recently that was true. Artistic ideas would be born in Europe, often France, and migrate slowly across the Atlantic and take root.
- Less
Topics:
Letters
, Painting, Visual Arts, Bard College, More
, Painting, Visual Arts, Bard College, Ken Greenleaf, Ken Greenleaf, Gleason Fine Art, Bob Solotaire, Bob Solotaire, Less
