Holly Solomon Gallery

Holly Solomon (1934 – 2002) was a prominent collector of contemporary art and founder of the Holly Solomon Gallery in New York City in 1975. Her Soho gallery was initially known for nurturing the artistic movement known as Pattern and Decoration, which was a reaction to the austerities of Minimal art. She was the subject of an early portrait by Andy Warhol that made her a Pop Art icon, of sorts, as well as the subject of portraits by Roy Lichtenstein and Robert Rauschenberg. Holly and Horace Solomon made a lasting contribution to the work of Gordon Matta-Clark when they provided the site for Matta-Clark's project Splitting, a suburban home in Englewood, New Jersey.

Solomon was born Hollis Dworken in Bridgeport, Connecticut in 1934. Her father was an immigrant from Russia who operated a local grocery and liquor store. She initially enrolled at Vassar College but transferred to Sarah Lawrence College where she graduated in 1955. In 1953 she married Horace Solomon, who became her partner in The Holly Solomon Gallery. In 1989 Solomon established the Arts Video News Service, a subscription-based monthly video service that featured critical art reviews, interviews, and up-to-date information on work featured in galleries and museums primarily in the New York area.

Holly Solomon had been an aspiring stage actress and was enrolled at Lee Strasberg's Actors Studio shortly after moving to Manhattan. She and her husband began collecting Pop Art and in 1969 the couple opened an alternative work and performance art space for artists named 98 Greene Street Loft. The space provided a venue for poets, actors, and artists to work and perform.

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