Local Artist Wins Landscape Award at Fifth Avenue's Salmagundi Club

West End artist Robert Solotaire has been awarded the top landscape award for his entry in the January 2007 juried exhibit at New York's Salmagundi Club, 47 Fifth Avenue.

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Solotaire's entry, titled "Sutton PlaceNeighborhood," is a view of the uptown East Side Manhattan neighborhood, as seen from Roosevelt Island. It is one of a series he has done of the Upper East Side, embracing views from 40th Street to 59th Street.

Solotaire, a native New Yorker and a graduate of Bard College, has made his hometown the major subject of his paintings for nearly 60 years. He likes to say that he ‘grew up on Broadway,’ where his father ran a theater ticket agency. He likes to walk around the five boroughs of the city, camera in hand, looking for interesting things to paint when he gets back to his studio on Houlton Street in the West End. He has specialized in what he calls ‘industrial landscapes’, not just in New York, but in Maine, Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia and other locations. They comprise about half his work.

Salmagundi was founded as an artist's club in 1871. It serves as a center for artists from New York and around the country - providing exhibitions ofpaintings, sculpture and photography. The club also features art classes, painting demonstrations and art auctions throughout the year. Solotaire has been a member since late 2006.