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Camille Solon Drawings Collection, 1900-1952
MS 106
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Title: Camille Solon Drawings Collection,
Date (inclusive): 1900-1952 (bulk 1910-1913; 1950-1952)
Collection number: MS 106
Creator:
Solon, Camille Antoine Arnoux, 1877-1960
Extent:
6 boxes.
Language:
English
English
Repository:
Special Collections, Robert E. Kennedy Library
California Polytechnic State University
San Luis Obispo, California 93407
Abstract: This collection contains approximately 225 landscape sketches by English muralist and ceramist Camille Solon. Items in the
collection include re-worked pencil sketches of rural locations and landscapes in Britain and northern California, where he
lived most of his adult years. Despite his extensive work at San Simeon, this collection contains only one pencil sketch from
the Hearst estate. A few watercolors and some conté crayon sketches with ink are also included in the collection. Donated
in 2001.
Donated in 2001.
Collection is open to qualified researchers by appointment only. Form more information on access policies and to obtain a
copy of the Researcher Registration form, please visit the Special Collections Access page. Advance notice for use required.
Restrictions on Use and Reproduction
In order to reproduce, publish, broadcast, exhibit, and/or quote from this material, researchers must submit a written request
and obtain formal permission from Special Collections, Cal Poly, as the owner of the physical collection.
Photocopying of material is permitted at staff discretion and provided on a fee basis. Photocopies are not to be used for
any purpose other than for private study, scholarship, or research. Special Collections staff reserves the right to limit
photocopying and deny access or reproduction in cases when, in the opinion of staff, the original materials would be harmed.
Camille Solon Drawings Collection, Special Collections, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.
Muralist and ceramist Camille Solon was born March 27, 1877, in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, a region known for
its potteries. A descendant of the Arnoux family, master ceramists in France, Camille was one of nine children born to Louis
Marc Solon and Laure Arnoux Solon. Solon's father was an award-winning potter famous for the "pâte-sur-pâte" technique. Many
of Camille Solon's siblings became respected artisans as well. Camille studied under his father and in London at the Slade
School and University College.
In 1914, at the age of 37, Camille emigrated to California to work with his brother, Albert, on a ceramic therapy program
for tuberculosis patients at the Arequipa Sanatorium in Fairfax, California. Under Albert Solon's supervision and with financial
support from Phoebe Apperson Hearst, the pottery gained a reputation for producing a wide variety of successful styles and
designs.
In 1915, at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco, the Arequipa Tuberculosis Sanatorium exhibited their
ceramic works in the fair's Palace of Education. The Arequipa pottery ceased operation in 1918.
By 1920, Albert Solon and his partner Frank Schemmel formed Solon and Schemmel in San Jose, California, to manufacture wall
and floor tiles. Tiles from Solon and Schemmel can be found at William Randolph Hearst's San Simeon estate. It is likely that
Camille Solon worked for his brother's tile company during its early years of operation.
Camille Solon was retained by San Simeon's architect, Julia Morgan, to design the mosaics of blue-and-gold Venetian glass
tile used in the Roman Pool. During his decade or more in Hearst's employment, Solon also designed and painted the murals
in the Gothic Study of Casa Grande, as well as other decorative detail work on the estate.
In the early 1940s, Solon worked with Julia Morgan again to design murals and ceiling decorative details for the Chapel of
the Chimes crematorium in Oakland. Other notable Bay Area work of Solon's includes "The Creation," an interior mural in the
Temple of Religion and Tower of Peace building at the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition in San Francisco.
Solon married Sylvia Wallace, a fellow British immigrant, in 1920. In his later years, Solon suffered from failing eyesight
and used a German shepherd guide dog to aid him. Camille Solon passed away in Marin County on January 8, 1960.
Sources
"Artist Solon Dies at 82 After Illness."
Marin Independent Journal 9 January 1960: no pag.
Atkisson, Barbara. "Artist in Hearst's Castle."
San Francisco News 25 April 1958: no pag.
Aviles, Brian A., Philip W. Johnson, and Robert C. Pavlik.
Tile & Terracotta In San Luis Obispo County. Healdsburg, CA: The Heritage Foundation, 1996.
California Death Index, 1940-1997, Ancestry.com
"Camille Antoine Solon (1878 1960)," Ask ART: The Artists' Bluebook.
http://www.askart.com/askart/s/camille_antoine_solon/camille_antoine_solon.aspx
"Camille Solon: San Simeon Muralist Dies."
San Francisco Examiner 10 January 1960: Sec 1, pg. 10.
Commanday, Mary Floris. Camille Antoine (Arnoux) Solon. Piedmont, CA.: Commanday, 1989. [self-published]
Hunter, Stanley Armstrong.
Temple of Religion and Tower of Peace at the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition. San Francisco: Temple of Religion and Tower of Peace, Inc., 1940.
"M. V. Artist—Solon Decorates Larkspur Altar".
Mill Valley Record 10 January 1940: no pag.
Official Guide Book, 1940: Golden Gate International Exposition on San Francisco Bay. San Francisco: The Crocker Company,
1940.
"Pacific Coast News." [column]
The Clay-Worker February 1929: 181.
Pavlik, Robert C. "The Tile Art of San Simeon."
Tile Heritage IV.2 (Winter 1997/1998): 3-11.
U. S. Census of Population, 1920, 1930, Ancestry.com
The collection contains approximately 225 sketches by artist Camille Solon, whose work appears throughout the Hearst estate
at San Simeon, California. This collection consists primarily of re-worked pencil sketches of rural locations and landscapes
in Britain and northern California including his native Stoke-on-Trent, England; Northern Wales; and Marin and Sonoma Counties
north of San Francisco (where he lived his adult years). There is one pencil sketch of the Hearst estate at San Simeon, California.
There are also a few watercolors and some conté crayon sketches with ink. The earliest piece in the collection is dated 1900.
The sketches were originally housed in three-ring binders. They have been removed from the binders and rehoused in their original
order in acid-free folders.
The original binder names have been retained as headings for Subseries B. Mill Valley [California] Sketches and Subseries
D. Sketches, 1952. The binder for Subseries A entitled Sonoma/Conway has been renamed British Sketches and the binder for
Subseries C Belvedere Sketches has been renamed California Sketches to more accurately reflect their contents.
Many sketches have handwritten titles and these are noted in the guide. Sketches that are untitled have descriptions in brackets
which were added for ease of identification. The majority of the works are pencil sketches; the few watercolor and conté crayon
pieces have been noted in the folder level descriptions.
Where possible, the provenance, or original organization, of the papers has been preserved. The collection is housed in six
boxes and arranged in one series:
Series 1. Sketches, 1900-1952
The series is divided into four subseries:
A. British Sketches
B. Mill Valley [California] Sketches
C. California Sketches
D. Sketches and Inventory, 1952.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Artisans -- California -- San Simeon
Hearst, William Randolph, 1863-1951 -- Homes and haunts -- California - Drawings
San Simeon Ranch (California) -- History -- Drawings
Solon, Camille Antoine Arnoux, 1877-1960
England -- Drawings
Wales -- Drawings
Marin County (California) -- Drawings
Landscape painting
Pencil sketches
Watercolors
Conté crayon sketches with ink
Related Collections:
Special Collections, Cal Poly:
Julia Morgan Papers (MS 10)
Julia Morgan—Sara Holmes Boutelle Collection, 1877-1958 (MS 27)
Sara Holmes Boutelle Papers, 1972-1999 (MS 141)
Edward G. Trinkkeller Papers, 1896-1999 (MS 97)