Rosalind Fox Solomon
Rosalind Fox Solomon (1930-2025) was an American artist celebrated for her exceptional photographic portraits. Traveling the world to find her subjects, she entered closed circles across a diverse range of cultures.
Rosalind Fox Solomon
Collection
Rosalind Fox Solomon
Collection
Prints
11,360
Negatives
360,000 and 29 binders of slides
Contact Sheets
18,000
Work Prints
31,000-32,000
Publications
5 linear feet
Prints
11,360
Negatives
360,000 and 29 binders of slides
Contact Sheets
18,000
Work Prints
31,000-32,000
Publications
5 linear feet
Biography
Rosalind Fox Solomon was an American artist whose portraiture deftly navigates racial and ethnic themes in crisp black-and-white photographs. Rituals, and the cultures that give birth to them, were a prominent focus of her work, and her intuitiveness and curiosity gained her access to closed circles and communities that allowed her to capture their most sacred rites. Spanning over 50 years, her boldly humanist work is as resonant as ever, touching themes of inequality, religion, devastation, and triumph.
Born in Highland Park, Illinois in 1930, Solomon graduated from Goucher College before marrying and relocating to Chattanooga, Tennessee. With a strong desire to learn about the lives of others, and with a need to express herself, Solomon first began experimenting with photography while traveling in 1968. As an activist doing volunteer work to help foster better international relations, she was invited to spend three weeks in Japan; on the outskirts of Tokyo, with no one to converse with, Solomon began taking pictures of the world around her with a simple point-and-shoot camera, igniting a newfound passion for the medium. As soon as she returned to Tennessee, she set up a darkroom and purchased a 35 mm camera.
Determined to hone her craft, Solomon began studying under the tutelage of Lisette Model during brief trips to New York City in the early 1970’s, all the while continuing to photograph people and their surroundings. Her pictures from this period offer a glimpse underneath the glossy veneer of the American South, and pointedly capture its segregated remnants; these images culminated in her 2018 book Liberty Theater, named after one of the last segregated cinemas in Chattanooga.
Selected Works
Selected Works
Portraits in the Time of AIDS
Rosalind Fox Solomon
In the height of the AIDS crisis, Rosalind Fox Solomon created intimate portraits of those afflicted with the illness, giving a face to the epidemic. The series, first exhibited at NYU’s Grey Art Gallery in 1988, was initially met with negative reviews, but was re-staged in Paris in the Salon d’Honneur at Paris Photo in 2015 to great acclaim.
Liberty Theater
Rosalind Fox Solomon
Titled after one of the last segregated cinemas in Columbus, Rosalind Fox Solomon’s series focused on the legacy of discrimination, class and gender divisions, and America’s history of racism. Dolls, muskets, KKK badges, and other relics of Americana are found throughout.
The Forgotten
Rosalind Fox Solomon
Spanning images she made from the 1970s to the 2000s, Rosalind Fox Solomon’s “The Forgotten” emphasizes her unique ability to enter into closed circles and communities around the world, thanks to her focus on intuition and empathy. An element of isolation—either from location or lived experience—permeates the work.
Them
Rosalind Fox Solomon
In 2010, Rosalind Fox Solomon spent nearly half a year in Israel and the West Bank, photographing the Jewish and Christian people she met there, as well as Ghanian pilgrims and Palestinian activists. “I wanted to express the chaos and pressure that was around me,” she described.
Got to Go
Rosalind Fox Solomon
As an itinerant photographer, Rosalind Fox Solomon made photographs of all of her travels, from her home in Chattanooga to Peru. Solomon described the work as a “tragicomedy”, using her camera to evaluate social codes across multiple cultures, including her own. The series combines images from early in her career in the mid-1970s through the late 2000s.
A Woman I Once Knew
Rosalind Fox Solomon
Half memoir, half photobook, "A Woman I Once Knew" is Rosalind Fox Solomon's swan song, comprising self-portraits spanning over fifty years paired with snippets of text from journals. Her photographs explore the body, posing for her camera nude in many of the portraits; similarly, many of the images portray the brutality of aging.
Programs & Essays
Rosalind Fox Solomon and the Photography of Care
By Stephen HilgerBy Stephen Hilger
"Rosalind Fox Solomon: What is Life?" at AIPAD
April 22-26, 2026April 22-26, 2026
MUUS Collection returns to AIPAD from April 22-26, 2026 to debut an exhibition on the late photographer's work.MUUS Collection returns to AIPAD from April 22-26, 2026 to debut an exhibition on the late photographer's work.
Rosalind Fox Solomon: A Woman I Once Knew
A remarkable new work from an epochal photographer, this volume shows a startling rigorousness and sensitivity of self-e…A remarkable new work from an epochal photographer, this volume shows a startling rigorousness and sensitivity of self-examination which suggests the boundless possibilities of taking the self as subject.
MUUSEUM
The MUUSEUM is the searchable online portal of the MUUS Collection. An evolving collection of over half a million images and related ephemera.