Camille Solon Drawings Collection, MS 106
Pages: Collection Summary | Biographical Note | Scope and Content
Scope and Content Note
Image © Solon Drawings Collection, MS 106, Cal Poly.
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 [Calif.] 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:
- Sketches, 1900-1952
The series is divided into four subseries:
- British Sketches
- Mill Valley [Calif.] Sketches
- California Sketches
- Sketches and Inventory, 1952.
Pages: Collection Summary | Biographical Note | Scope and Content
