Simeon Solomon Appeal

Last November I posted a piece on the Simeon Solomon Research Archive. As I mentioned then, I’m a member of the Pre-Raphaelite Society (PRS) and have been a fan of Solomon’s work for many years.

Recently, with the Spring newsletter of the PRS, members received an appeal from Frank Vigon, an Educational Consultant who has been researching Jewish artists.

The following appeal is published with his permission, and is selected from his PRS appeal, an article he wrote for several Jewish periodicals, and a personal email.

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I first came upon Simeon Solomon when I was preparing a talk on the rarity of Jewish artists throughout history. On researching his work further, my mind was blown by the breadth of his talent.

From an early age he showed clear artistic talent sketching many images from Jewish culture and Jewish biblical themes. He first exhibited at the Royal Academy at the age of 18. He was introduced to the Pre-Raphaelite group and was very much connected to the second phase of this group’s development. He was very much at the centre. So much so that Burne Jones said of him “Solomon was the greatest artist of us all”.

By far the youngest of the group, he was nevertheless popular in Victorian England. At the height of his fame reproductions of his works were to be found in many Victorian homes.

In the hothouse of the avant-garde circles in which he moves Solomon finds himself on the margins of society both as a Jew and as a homosexual. A significant body of his work is often seen as having homoerotic undertones which is heavily hinted at by some of his less supportive critics. Nevertheless his success as an artist compensates for the two potential areas of exclusion.

In 1874 Solomon is arrested with another man in a public toilet off Oxford Street, prosecuted and found guilty. The scandal destroys his reputation, his career and his personality. The vast majority of his friends and associates drop him. The galleries that exhibited his work every year since he was 18 refuse to show his work. At the age of 33 he drifts into poverty and alcoholism and becomes an outcast. He continues to work and produces some very fine pieces including some excellent portraits, some work on Christian themes and a significant number of symbolist paintings.

He drifts in and out of the workhouse, but his output is unreliable due to bouts of alcoholism. He spends the rest of his life in a downward spiral still producing work but shunned. He dies in St Giles workhouse in 1905. The tragedy is that he was such a gifted and talented artist whose craft both as an artist and poet ought to have earned him a more prominent place within the Pre-Raphaelite group. This is one of our most significant Jewish painters. His work deserves a reappraisal and certainly his memory deserves honouring.

Alongside is a picture of his grave in Willesden Jewish Cemetery as it now lies: abandoned, fallen tombstone with the writing effaced by time. I have talked with the cemetery and intend to raise enough money over the next few months to re-establish the headstone, lay a body stone and affix a plaque which will read “Simeon Solomon, Pre-Raphaelite artist, 1840–1905. This stone re-established by subscription in recognition of his unique gifts and talent.”

To at least do something meaningful with the grave I am now targeted at around £2500 to £3000 which should cover the reinstatement of the grave. I am still discussing with interested supporters the establishment of a living legacy.

I have the support of Dr. Carolyn Conroy of Art History Dept. at the University of York, who is an acknowledged expert on Simeon Solomon [and co-creator of the Simeon Solomon Research Archive].

I am happy to receive any amount no matter how small, every little bit of money contributes and will be equally valued. Some senior citizens at some of the talks I have given gave me small change and it was in many ways more appreciated than some of the very generous cheques that I have received.

I have now raised £1,400 from contributors and talks. Many have been in touch including a distant relative, Pam Solomon, and they now feel that it would be appropriate to have something from his artwork engraved on the stone. This in itself might be problematic as this is a Jewish Cemetery and "graven images" might not be permitted. Initially I am thinking of something from his symbolist period on the subject of "night, sleep and death" as he himself said: "Night, sleep, death and the stars, they are the themes that I love best"

But any help you can give will be very much appreciated, it is so good to know that there are now many people from the Jewish, gay and heterosexual community who are coming together to reinstate a much maligned and unjustly treated artist. This alone is a fitting tribute to his memory and talent.

Frank Vigon

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I also think Simeon Solomon deserves to be respected for his work and not his sexuality and downfall. I was a fan of Solomon’s art long before I discovered anything about his life.

If you want to contribute to the appeal you can send cheques made out to “Frank Vigon (Simeon Solomon” and send it to:

122 Windmill Street

Macclesfield

Cheshire SK11 7LB

United Kingdom

If you’d rather donate in another way I’m sure Mr Vigon will be pleased to arrange something. He has agreed to let me publish his email address if you want to contact him – frank.vigon@gmail.com

I’m thinking of getting some of my friends involved by hosting a Pre-Raphaelite fundraising party. We’ll dress up as Victorians, eat Victoria sponges, listen to Victorian music, and play Victorian parlour games. I’ll put prints of Simeon’s work on the walls. I might even have a little chalk and pastel drawing contest. My guests will be asked to make a donation to the fund and have fun at the same time.

A Sweet Birthday Tribute

I’m a day early with the next Molecule of the Week, but I have a very good reason. Today is the birthday of my featured chemist, Dr. Carolyn Bertozzi of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California.

As my birthday tribute to her I have chosen a chemical likely to be found in her birthday cake, a chemical which has also played an important part in her scientific career – glucose. This is a representative example of one of the sugars and sugar compounds that go to form glycans, complex molecules which attach themselves to cell membranes.

For the past few years Carolyn Bertozzi has been at the forefront of a new field in biochemistry. So new, in fact, that it didn’t have a name until Caroline invented one for it – bio-orthogonal chemistry. In contrast to the methods Jay Keasling developed to produce a synthetic malaria drug (by altering the DNA of bacteria to make them produce the drug), Carolyn’s work uses chemistry to detect the way cells communicate with and recognise other living cells (without changing the DNA).

Glucose is one of the natural sugars which form these complex molecules called glycans. They attach themselves to protein or fat molecules in cell membranes and are able to detect whether the cell is working okay or is under attack from a virus or bacteria. The cell can send chemical messages to it’s neighbours to tell them to alert the immune system. The immune system in animals and humans relies on body cells (such as white blood cells) which recognise diseased or infected cells. By recognising these cells, antibodies are produced. Naturally, the thought of HIV and cancer treatments also comes to mind. In transplants these cells recognise the new organs as benign and reduce the risk of tissue rejection.

The principal behind bio-orthogonal chemistry is that scientists can tag specific glycans with another chemical to see which message they are sending to other cells. The tags work without effecting the natural biological processes in the living cells. If scientists know which glycans can recognise damaged or diseased cells they are able to detect diseases before they become detectable by current means, before the disease spreads to other cells. And by knowing which glycan passes on the diseased message you can deliver a glucose or sugar-based glycan to counter the signal and stop it from spreading.

Carolyn has won many professional awards for her bio-orthogonal work, including the 2007 GLBT Scientist of the Year from the National Organisation of Gay and Lesbian Scientist and Technical Professionals. Part of the citation of the award reads: “Dr. Carolyn Bertozzi has been chosen to receive the … award because of her outstanding achievements in applying chemistry to help answer biological questions related to human health and disease. Her laboratory group at the UC Berkeley studies cell surface interactions in the areas of cancer, inflammation and bacterial infection… As an open and out lesbian in academia and science Dr. Bertozzi has been an excellent role model for her students and colleagues.”

Happy Birthday Dr. Bertozzi.

International Day Against Homo-, Bi-, and Transphobia

The World's Oldest Porn?

In the remote province of Xinjiang in northern China there is a series of ancient rock carvings which may be the oldest depiction of sex ever discovered.

This post could easily have been made last month when I had archaeology as my Ology of the Month, but I thought I’d hold it back until now to tie in with my celebration of Asian-Pacific heritage. Archaeologically speaking, though, it seems that these carvings show the early influence of the west in China.

When the cave carvings, or petroglyphs, as archaeologists call this type of carving, were discovered in 1980 they were dated to about 3,000 years ago, but later research and comparisons to other carvings pushed the date back another thousands years to around 2000 BC. What they appear to show is some sort of fertility ritual or festival which shows a huge orgy.

In all 83 full figures are carved, with lots of headless torsos and floating heads (not thought to represent mutilation or death). Of the full figures 50 are female, 14 are male, and 19 are bisexual. To understand these numbers we must look at how the male and female genders are depicted. The differences are subtle but important. The drawing below shows the typical depictions in the carving for a woman (left) and a man (right).

 

The strange antenna on most of the women’s heads are representations of a ceremonial headdress associated with women of high status. Strangely, all of the figures have their arms in the same position. Perhaps this indicates some part of the ritual, or signifies the human connection between heaven and earth.

The figures described by archaeologists as bisexual appear to be sexually aroused men wearing female ceremonial headdresses or with female heads drawn on their chest. These have been identified as shamans and priests. The depiction of these shamans varies.

The culture which the carving represents, the one which carved it, may have been Eurasian in origin rather than east Asian. The area is near the mountainous region north of the dangerous Taklamakan Desert (it’s names means “you go in, but you won’t get out!”). It was an area where nomads from what is now Kazakhstan moved south along the mountains, like some Eurasian cultural finger poking into China!

With the area being so remote, and the current political situation, it is unlikely that any further such carvings will be found in the near future. It would be interesting to know exactly who these people were, how much ethnic mix went on with neighbouring Asian cultures, and how much this culture influenced northern China.

A scholarly article on the petroglyphs can be found here.

A Molecule For Murder

The drug of death! The chemical killer! That should get your attention! In contrast to last week’s life-saving molecule, the anti-malarial drug artemisinin, today we look at a famous chemical that was used in a gay murder.

As an anaesthetic chloroform was used extensively during surgery. Though looking at old thrillers and murder mysteries, where a hapless innocent victim is ambushed with a chloroform-soaked handkerchief being clamped over the mouth and nostrils, it is clear that there’s a darker use for this chemical.

Today’s tale begins in January 1885 in the port of Liverpool. On board the steamship “Cephalonia”, bound for Boston, Massachusetts, were two men who had just met. One was a well-off international salesman for a London textile company, 24-year-old Charles Arthur Preller. The other man was, he claimed, Dr. Walter Lennox Maxwell of London. He was no such thing. He was actually 32-year-old Hugh Mottram Brooks of Manchester - though he had studied medicine.

The two men’s friendship increased as they steamed across the Atlantic, and they both planned to carry on together to New Zealand. Preller had business in the USA first, so they agreed to meet up in St. Louis as few weeks later before heading off Down Under.

Brooks booked into a hotel under his alias of Dr. Maxwell. Preller arrived three days later. They shared the room, though to avert suspicion of their relationship Preller booked a separate room in his own name. The couple were indeed a couple, as letters discovered later would prove.

The relationship seemed to be like ones often found today – a  gay man with money finds himself in a relationship with a gay man who wants to spend it. The hotel staff noticed that it was Preller who had the money and Brooks seemed to have none. Then, on the evening of Easter Sunday, 5^th April, Brooks was seen waving a roll of $100 bills around in the hotel bar. There was no sign of Preller, which was unusual as they were always seen together. Brooks was drunk, and said to the head waiter “What’s the penalty for killing a man? Would $500 get a man off?”

The following day Brooks paid his bills and left, saying Preller had gone out of town and would be back for his luggage in a few days. No-one had actually seen Preller since Sunday morning. Brooks then travelled to San Francisco and boarded a steamship for Auckland, New Zealand.

Six days later the hotel maids reported an unbearable stench coming for a locked trunk in Brooks’ room. The manager had it dragged outside and opened by the local trunk dealer. The dealer recognised it as one he had sold to Brooks the previous week. When he opened it he discovered why Brooks didn’t take it with him.

Inside the trunk was the swollen, blackened, rotting corpse of Charles Preller, naked except for underwear bearing Brooks’ name. An autopsy revealed Preller had died of chloroform poisoning. It was clear that Brooks had murdered him and a manhunt began.

Brooks was traced to the steamer crossing the Pacific. Police sent a telegram ahead to Auckland, so that when the steamer arrived police were ready to arrest Brooks.

At his trial in May 1886 Brooks claimed he bought the chloroform to treat an ailment Preller was complaining off that fateful weekend. Using it as an anaesthetic Brooks claimed he gave him a second dose when it looked like Preller was coming round during the treatment. Preller died from the overdose. Doctors found no evidence of any treatment carried out on Preller’s body.

Brooks denied the murder throughout his trial, though the police gave evidence from Brooks’ time in custody when he admitted to a fellow prisoner that he had been angry at Preller for not paying for his ticket to Auckland. Brooks was heard to admit to wanting to “fix” Preller “on account of his meanness”. Prosecution witnesses included the men who sold Brooks the trunk and the chloroform, and hotel staff who said he suddenly had a lot of money on the day he checked out.

The trial caused a sensation around the world, not only in America and New Zealand, but also in England where journalists interviewed Brooks’ parents.

The jury retired to consider their verdict on the evening on 4^th June, and the following morning found Hugh Mottram Brooks guilty of the murder of Charles Arthur Preller. Brooks was hanged on 10^th August 1888.

Perhaps this murder would still be well-known today had it not been for the first in a series of murders which began three weeks later which caught the public attention – the first of Jack the Ripper’s brutal killings (more of him later this month).

A more detailed account of the St. Louis Trunk Murder can be found here. 

Asia-Pacific Heroes

The USA is celebrating Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. The influence of these communities and cultures have reached around the globe. Each of these cultures has a unique character in their lgbt community which is often not fully understood, or even known, to people with a strong European-based heritage.

The Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), based in New York, has produced this leaflet of 9 lgbt heroes from all walks of life and professions who are active in lgbt campaigns or have provided a valued contribution to society.

I’d like to add my own list of 10 more notable Asia-Pacific lgbt heroes from around the world and throughout history. Some you may have heard of, some you may not. (I’ll be producing a separate list of lgbt Asian-Pacific scientists later this month).

Xiaoai, Emperor of the Han Dynasty (27 BC- 1AD)

and Dong Xian (c.23 BC- 1 BC)

Xiaoai, or Ai, was emperor of the Chinese Han dynasty for 6 years from the age of 26. His relationship with Dong, a minor official who quickly rose in power and influence, is generally believed to have been homosexual. The legend of Ai cutting off his voluminous sleeve rather than wake the sleeping Dong Xian who had rolled over onto it, has become a by-name for homosexuality – the Passion of the Cut Sleeve.

Togo Ken (1923-2012)

At the time of the growing gay rights movement in the USA in the 1970s Togo Ken was almost single-handedly championing sexual rights in Japan. He left his wife and children to start a gay bar and even campaigned for election to parliament. Togo was unashamedly effeminate, wearing kimonos and make-up, even on his election broadcasts. Despite his legendary status in Japan his place as a pioneer in the freedom of sexual expression is largely unknown elsewhere.

Georgina Beyer (b.1957)

When she made her maiden speech in the New Zealand parliament in 1999 Georgina pointed out that she was the first transsexual in the world to be elected as an MP. Of Maori descent she has spoken on racial and civil union rights and environmental issues, and has been a keynote speaker at many international lgbt conferences, including several Outgames conferences. Sadly, Georgina has recently been diagnosed with chronic kidney disease.

Margaret Cho (b.1968)

Margaret’s career has covered many varied areas – stand-up comedy, writing, fashion design, acting and song writing. She grew up in San Francisco where she began her stand-up career in the clubs around her immigrant-Korean parents’ bookshop. Margaret has appeared on many American shows, being nominated for an Emmy award in 2011 for her guest appearance in “30 Rock”. The openly bisexual Margaret has often spoken on lgbt rights and racial issues.

Louisa Wall (b.1972) – Last month New Zealand legalised gay marriage. The original bill was introduced into parliament in May 2012 by the openly lesbian MP Louisa Wall. Louisa is of mixed-race heritage, having both European and Maori ancestry. The passing of the same-sex marriage act was, she said, like winning a World Cup final – she should know, she won the 1998 women’s rugby World Cup as part of New Zealand’s national team.

Gok Wan (b.1974)

Gok has carved out a niche on British television as the only “cool” fashion stylist, having several shows running concurrently and appearing as a guest on many others. Growing up in Leicester of mixed English-Hong Kong Chinese parentage, Gok suffered racial abuse at school, causing him to gain weight and attempt suicide. Since his career took off he has gained confidence and lost weight, and has promoted positive self-body-image attitudes in schools.

Dan Choi (b.1981)

Iraq veteran and New York National Guardsman Choi was discharged after coming out on US television. Choi, of Korean descent, immediately wrote to President Obama criticising the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy banning open homosexuality in the US military. Choi campaigned vigorously to have the policy repealed, and formed Knights Out, a support group for lgbt military personnel. When President Obama repealed the policy in 2010 Dan Choi was present at the official signing.

Johnny Saelua (b.1988)

Jaiyah, or Johnny, Saelua made history last November when he played for American Samoa in the 2014 World Cup preliminaries against Tonga. Johnny became the first ever Third Gender soccer player. As a member of the Samoan male-born, female-identified f’afafine community Johnny believes the acceptance of his gender in his country made it easy for him to be accepted as a footballer on the national team. He also made history by playing in the first American Samoan team to win a match.

And finally, being about as topical and up-to-date as I can …

Amini Fonua (b.1989)

Just a couple of days ago this New Zealander of Tongan and English heritage (and of distinguished Tongan ancestry) came out publicly. He was already out at college in the USA and made his announcement in response to criticisms of his college being one of the most homophobic. As one of 2 Tongan athletes given wild card entries into the 2012 London Olympic Games Amina proudly carried his nation’s flag at the head of the 3-person Tongan team in the opening ceremony.

http://www.glsen.org/binary-data/GLSEN_ATTACHMENTS/file/000/002/2195-1.pdf

Flower Power - A Floral Molecule

Today’s flower is closely related to one I’ve already covered on this blog, Lad’s Love (Artemisia abrotanum). Today’s flower is sweet wormwood (Artemisia annua). It is the source of the Molecule of the Week, the main drug used to treat malaria – artemisinin. It’s quite a recent drug. It was first discovered and used by the Chinese in the 1970s, who were reluctant at first to pass on their discovery to the rest of the world, given the suspicion China had for the West at that time. Traditional Chinese medicine has always been highly regarded, and it was the use of sweet wormwood in medicine for over 2,000 that led the Chinese to research it’s medicinal properties.

Even though sweet wormwood grows all over the world and many drug companies now have plantations, extracting artemisinin is expensive. With almost a million people, including one child in Africa every 45 seconds, dying from malaria other methods of producing the drug, which has been the best and preferred drug for malaria treatment since 2006, has been on the minds of many biochemists.

For over ten years one gay scientist has been working on the synthetic production of artemisinin from bacteria. His name is Dr. Jay Keasling, Professor of Bio-chemical Engineering at the University of California Berkeley, and Chief Executive Officer of the Joint Bioenergy Institute, or J-BEI.

Jay’s work crosses several sciences – biochemistry, genetic engineering and synthetic biology. But at the root of his work on artemisinin is the reproduction of the chemical that comes from sweet wormwood.

Jay was born and raised on a Nebraska farm. He says that his research with producing artemisinin synthetically from yeast and e-coli bacteria has put his career in more touch with the farm than ever before.

Jay has compared the processes involved in producing the drug to a chemical factory. Using synthetically  manufactured DNA Jay has managed a way to make yeast and e-coli churn out artemisinin as if they were mini chemical factories. When Jay and his research team made their first successful production of the drug in this way in 2003 they were hailed as pioneers of bio-engineering.

In 2004 the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation awarded Jay $42.5 million to carry on research in order to produce artemisinin in enough quantities to distribute world-wide. Very soon, this year, in fact, the pharmaceutical company Sanofi-Aventi will turn Jay’s dream of a cheap and plentiful production of artemisinin into reality with the drug being launched on the market in the coming months.

Very soon millions of malaria sufferers will be treated with the synthetic drug created by Jay Keasling and, who knows, perhaps we’ll see the end of malaria as a fatal disease in our own lifetime.

But Jay is not stopping at artemisinin. Using the same techniques but synthesising other chemicals in the bacteria he has created a way for e-coli to produce a biofuel which will, hopefully, replace the oil-based fossil fuels currently ruling the world.

In 2006 Jay became “Discover” magazine’s first Scientist of the Year, and in 2010 he was announced as GLBT Engineer of the Year by the National Organisation for Gay and Lesbian Scientific and Technical Professionals (NOGLSTP). Jay was profiled on the PBS programmes “NOVAscience NOW” in 2011. Here is that programme in full, but if you want to skip forward to Jay’s profile go 39 minutes and 52 seconds into the programme.

Jay Keasling’s work may change the world. And all of this because the ancient Chinese saw the medicinal benefits in a plant called sweet wormwood.