24/06/2025
MUUS Collection is saddened to announce the passing of Rosalind Fox Solomon, a pioneering figure in photography and portraiture.
Fox Solomon traveled the world to find her subjects, from Latin America to India, with a curiousness and intuition that gained her access into closed circles and communities. She was an iconic cultural figure who lived in her downtown loft for forty years, photographing in the neighboring Washington Square Park. To Fox Solomon, metaphors and symbols existed everywhere, in the events taking place on the streets and in the profound and intimate moments she shared with her subjects.
Born in Highland Park, Illinois in 1930, Fox Solomon graduated from Goucher College in Maryland before marrying Joel Warren (Jay) Solomon and moving to Chattanooga, Tennessee. There, she raised two children, her daughter, Linda, and son, Joel, while cultivating an interest in cross-cultural understanding. Her work with the Experiment in International Living brought her to Japan in 1968, where she began experimenting with photography. At the age of 38, she began photographing as a career, traveling to New York City to study with the influential photographer Lisette Model.
In 1979, Fox Solomon was awarded a prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship, which allowed her to expand her practice internationally. She photographed in Guatemala, Peru, India, South Africa, and beyond. These journeys culminated in numerous exhibitions, most notably the Museum of Modern Art’s Rosalind Fox Solomon: Ritual, a solo exhibition in 1986 dedicated to her work that solidified her status as a major figure in contemporary photography.
Fox Solomon remained active well into her nineties. Her final publication, A Woman I Once Knew (2024), is a poignant blend of memoir and self-portraits that traces the arc of a life lived with intensity, curiosity, and artistic bravery.
As owners of Fox Solomon’s estate and stewards of her legacy, MUUS Collection is committed to continuing to promote and exhibit these important and masterfully printed bodies of photographs.
Read her full obituary on our website.