Oil paint on canvas
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/solomon-j-solomon-1961" aria-label="More by Solomon J. Solomon" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Solomon J. Solomon</a>
A Family Group Artists Wife and Children Papa Painting
Presented by the artist's widow 1938
actions: expressive
actions: postures and motions
adults
baby
boy
children
domestic
embracing
family
flower
girl
groups
interiors
living room
mother and child
named families
people
plants and flowers
portraits
sitting
society
Solomon family
woman
painting oil paint canvas
A Family Group: The Artist’s Wife and Children: ‘Papa Painting!’
support: 1613 × 1753 mm
frame: 1860 × 2070 × 170 mm
Presented by the artist's widow 1938
<p><b>N04916</b> A FAMILY GROUP: THE ARTIST'S WIFE AND CHILDREN (‘PAPA PAINTING!’) 1905</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Inscr. ‘S J S [in monogram] 05’ b.l.
<br/>Canvas, 63 1/2×69 (161×175).
<br/>Presented by the artist's widow 1938.
<br/><i>Exh:</i> R.A., 1905 (80), as ‘Papa Painting!’; R.A., <i>Late Members</i>, winter 1928 (303); <i>Paintings by Solomon J. Solomon, R.A. and Lily Delissa Joseph</i>, Ben Uri Gallery, May 1946 (76, repr.).
<br/><i>Lit:</i> Olga Somech Phillips, <i>Solomon J. Solomon: A Memoir of Peace and War</i>, n.d. [1933], pp.83, 85, 89, 223.
<br/><i>Repr:</i> <i>Royal Academy Pictures</i>, 1905, p.91; <i>Art Journal</i>, 1905, p.165, as ‘Papa Painting’.</p>
<p>The <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>painting</span></a> shows the artist's wife Ella, daughter of Hyman Montagu, F.S.A., whom he married in 1897 (and who died in 1957) and, looking from left to right of the picture, his eldest daughter Mary (b. 1898, now Mrs Ronald Rubinstein), his youngest child Iris Rachel (b. 1903, now the Hon. Mrs Ewen Montagu), and standing on the right, his son Dorian Joseph (b. 1901). In a letter to the compiler (7 July 1958) Mrs Montagu wrote: ‘I am the baby who gave the title to the <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/portrait" title="Glossary definition for 'Portrait'"><span>portrait</span></a> by (so I am told) taking up the pose, pointing at Father and saying “Papa painting”.’</p>
<p>An oil sketch (18×24 in.) for the painting belongs to Mrs J. H. Simon, and shows the mother and Mary Solomon. There are certain variations; Mary's head is turned to the left and her mother's hair style is different, not being unswept. Two sketches of the head of Mrs Ewen Montagu, one in oil, the other a <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/chalk" title="Glossary definition for 'Chalk'"><span>chalk</span></a> <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/d/drawing" title="Glossary definition for 'Drawing'"><span>drawing</span></a> on brown <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/paper" title="Glossary definition for 'Paper'"><span>paper</span></a>, were lent by her to the Ben Uri Art Gallery exhibition in 1946 (59 and 60).</p>
<p><b>Published in:</b>
<br/>Mary Chamot, Dennis Farr and Martin Butlin, <i>The Modern British Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture</i>, London 1964, II
<br/></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-10-06T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
actions: expressive actions: postures and motions adults baby boy children domestic embracing family flower girl groups interiors living room mother and child named families people plants and flowers portraits sitting society Solomon family woman