To Be or Not To Be

Holly Solomon for me has become the symbol of the mainstream art world gone awry. ( Obit HERE).  I wonder whether her hold on attitudes of the mainstream owed its strength to Andy Warhol's portrait of her (see article HERE) or if just being in the right place at the right time would have given her the power she held.  In the sixties, for an artist to have Holly's nod was as close to a guaranteed success as one would desire; to have Holly's disapproval was a total close-out, at least in the mainstream.

I wonder how many artists skewed their works towards get Holly's blessings and how many came to her attention after they'd discovered some new idea on their own.  I wonder how much the teachings of colleges and universities reflected her influence, indeed how many do so today. 

And then I think of Andrew Wyeth (website HERE) who was dogged determined to follow is own artistic direction no matter what was happening in the mainstream, and of Richard Schmid (website HERE) who held tight to his inner direction, resisting current trends and attitudes.  Knowing Holly and her inner circle sneered at both these, each whose work continued to evolve and who, today, are examples excellence in artistic achievement--knowing that makes me smile.

Have a happy Sunday.
Dianne