Paul Solman Pays Tribute to His Father

RAY SUAREZ:

The approach of Father's Day triggered this appreciation from correspondent Paul Solman.

JOSEPH SOLMAN:

I'm Joe Solman, I've turned 80, which staggered me a bit. At 79, I didn't mind bragging about my age so 80 staggered me … it hit me in the solar plexus.

PAUL SOLMAN, NewsHour correspondent: My dad at his summer cottage near Boston in 1989, a full career already behind him, doing one of his "mono-types."

JOSEPH SOLMAN:

It's a delightful way of concentrating on small paintings with a great variety of subject matter.

PAUL SOLMAN:

Who knew Joe Solman had 19 sweet years to go? Of his apparent immortality, he'd say it was "kind of crazy" — the secret: Scotch at night, he'd say, and half-a-grapefruit in the morning.

He might have added: Women. Song. Old New York. New New York. Motorcycles. Mozart — he did a book on him. His family, of course. Cape Ann, Massachusetts. And the backyard of his summer cottage there. The guy loved it all.

JOSEPH SOLMAN:

Well, see how she looks now. Of all the games that men have invented, from chess to football, baseball, so on, art is one of the nicest games. That's my take on it.

PAUL SOLMAN:

The czar was still running Russia when Joe's family sailed away in 1912, the year the Titanic failed to make a similar trip. The Model T preceded Joe, but only by a year. Fidel Castro is young enough to be his son. If Joe were John McCain's dad, he would have fathered him at age 28.

It's not just that Joe outlasted pretty much everything in sight, though, but how he nurtured time — savoring it, lavishing it on us and his art.