SUI GENERIS
The Frank & Shirley Hollin Collection

SUI GENERIS: The Frank and Shirley Hollin Collection was an exhibition devoted to a private collection of Solowey artwork that had never before been exhibited publicly. Rae Solowey, whose love of Latin was legendary, often used this term, which means unique, to describe Frank and Shirley Hollin. But she might have well been describing their collection of nearly 40 Ben Solowey works. There were works in almost every media and genre, including several masterpieces and a number of small gems. While some of these works have been previously exhibited at museums, the entire collection has never been seen together, unless you knew the Hollins."

Frank Hollin was the son of Ben Solowey’s sister, Rose. He was a teenager when the Soloweys moved to Bucks County, and he spent a great deal of time working side by side with his uncle to make the property the place that it is today. After Frank’s marriage to Shirley, they began to acquire Solowey artwork, creating a collection that is in a class of its own. "The Hollins were more than family or patrons to Ben and Rae Solowey. Frank was a surrogate son," explains Leopold. "Without Frank’s assistance and Shirley’s care after Ben’s death, Rae could not have remained on the farm, and the Studio may not have survived."

We dedicated this first show of Ben Solowey’s second century to Frank Hollin, whose passing in 2000 robbed the Studio of Ben Solowey of one of its most ardent admirers and vocal supporters. And to Shirley, who continued the Hollin generosity by allowing us to present this sui generis body of work.

As always, there were works in this exhibition that showed Ben Solowey’s easy versatility in a range of media, such as oils, watercolors, charcoal, pastel, and pencil. For regular Studio visitors this exhibition was a fresh take on Ben Solowey, as only one of the works in the collection have been displayed at the Studio in its nearly ten year exhibition history.