Based in Los Angeles, he is a former stockbroker and collector of Japanese, African, Oceanic and Indonesian art leading to becoming an art dealer in 1981. He began buying and selling Asian and Tribal Art, applying a collector’s viewpoint in purchasing and selling quality art.
Jerry Solomon is a recognized international authority on Japanese Tsuba (sword guards) and Japanese Shrine masks, previously collecting African, Oceanic, Indonesian, Philippine and Himalayan arts. Being a major believer in eclecticism, that art is most enjoyed when one can experience the beauty of many cultures thus his interests and expertise are very diverse. Among them are Japanese Tsuba and Armor, Japanese Shrine masks, African and Oceanic art, Indonesian sculpture, Indian Cola sculpture and Tibetan Thanka. Special interests are in the Arts of the Batak, Dyak, Nias and the Philippines, and especially Bul’ul.
He has either participated in organizing, lending or lecturing in the following exhibitions.
EXHIBITIONS
Arts of the Japanese Sword | Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1974
One of the Organizers, lenders and lecturers of the exhibition
Japanese Shinsa | Newport Beach, California, 1974
(A major Japanese sword and sword Fittings exhibition in association with the NTBHK of Japan)
Large exhibition of his Higo province tsuba collection, in the Meibutsu room
Great Masters of Tsuba-Ko | Japanese Sword Club Northern California, 1976
Token Kai, lecture by Jerry Solomon, and article published
The People and Art of the Philippines | Museum of Cultural History, 1981 UCLA – lender
The Silk Route and The Diamond Path | Frederick S. Wight Art Gallery, 1983 UCLA
Asia House Gallery; NY; Natural Museum of History, Natural Museum of Man, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. – lender
The Eloquent Dead | Ancestral Sculpture of Indonesia and Southeast Asia, 1985
UCLA Museum of Cultural History – one of the major lenders
Islands and Ancestors | Indigenous Styles of Southeast Asia, 1988
Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY – lender
Masks of the World | Mingei International, 1995
Museum of World Folk Art, La Jolla, California – major lender
Masks of the World | The California Heritage Museum, 1999
Santa Monica, California – major lender
Body Politics | The Female Image in Luba Art and the Sculpture of Alison Saar, 2000
UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History – one of the major lenders
Other institutions where loans, lectures or consultations were given: The British Museum, Department of Asian arts; Pacific Asia Museum, Pasadena, California; University Art Museum, Santa Barbara, CA; Ethnic Arts Council of Los Angeles, Orange Coast College, Art Museum