The androgynous vision of a Victorian outsider: The life and work of Simeon Solomon.

In my dissertation I examine the life and work of the second-generation Pre-Raphaelite artist Simeon Solomon by focusing on his sexuality, his creation of androgynous images, and his growing pessimism. I consider the way that his androgynous figures reflected the fantasies and fears of many late Victorian homosexuals as well as the new conceptions of masculinity which developed during the last quarter of the nineteenth century. My study also looks at the way that Solomon transcended traditional Victorian gender categories by creating male figures who synthesized masculine and feminine physical and psychological characteristics. I examine Solomon's iconographic focus on masculine youthfulness and delicacy and show how his homoerotic reinterpretation of classical and allegorical subjects differed significantly from the feminine androgynes of the other Pre-Raphaelites.This study also focuses on the cultural marginalization that Solomon experienced as both a Jew and a homosexual. After first examining Solomon's promising future during the late '60s and his close friendship with Swinburne, Rossetti, Burne-Jones, Pater, and Oscar Browning, I look at the way that his involvement in homosexual scandal in 1873 led to him becoming blacklisted by both his friends and mainstream artistic society. I pay special attention to Solomon's works of the '80s and '90s and look at how he developed an artistic discourse that was instantly recognized by other homosexuals. After conducting a thorough sub-textual analysis of Solomon's androgynes (and examining the way that homosexual men may have viewed Solomon's work), I explore some of the ways that Solomon's homoerotic images both reflected and influenced the Victorian homosexual subculture.Thesis (Ph.D.)--Drew University, 2000.School code: 0064