Dawn (Head of Hypnos)

Simeon Solomon

1901 (?) · Blue, red, brown and black chalk; framing lines in black chalk · Drawings and Prints

A member of an English Jewish family of artists, Solomon was inspired the Pre-Raphaelites Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Edward Burne-Jones. "Dawn" belongs to a series of late drawings that respond to the artist's own prose poem, "A Vision of Love Revealed in Sleep" (1871), and combine mystical Hebraic and hedonistic classical elements. The artist's final years were spent in social exile and declining health, shunned by family and friends for his increasingly open homosexuality. Recently, Solomon's distinct style and contributions to art of the late Victorian era have been increasingly studied and admired.

Artist

Simeon Solomon

Date

1901 (?)

Medium

Blue, red, brown and black chalk; framing lines in black chalk

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Rogers Fund, 1907