Gifford Beal

American, 1879–1956

Watercolor of scene of Good Harbor Beach located in Gloucester, Massachusetts

Painting of people standing on waterfront, horse (with rider) on left, houses and mountains in background.

Watercolor of Harrison Cady’s studio: painting of sailboat on wall, five upholstered chairs in room, rug in middle.

Painting of two fishermen walking to ocean with buckets, house on right, ocean on right

Painting of a view out a window: building with dome roof on right, brick buildings on left, park in distance.

Etching of women in headdresses riding elephants with guides

drawing of five men in a boat, three are seated and the other two are standing and using poles to row in the back

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Gifford Beal always knew that he wanted to paint. At 12, he began studying with William Merritt Chase on weekends in New York City and during the summer at Chase’s School in Shinnecock Hills, Long Island. Beal would continue his work with Chase while attending Princeton University. He also studied at the Art Students League and, later, served as its president for a record 14 years. Beal had early professional success, winning national painting and watercolor prizes. In 1914 he was elected to membership in the National Academy of Design.

Beal's subjects varied. He found inspiration not only in holiday spectacle and pageantry but also in the natural and every-day side of life. Some of his best known pictures are of holiday crowds, circus performers and hunting scenes. Yet, Beal enjoyed painting the Caribbean Islands and the landscape along the Hudson River and in Gloucester and Rockport, Massachusetts, where he spent many summers. He depicted many scenes of the fishermen who worked there.

The French Impressionists' use of color and light to create form and atmosphere provided Beal's first influence. As his personal style developed, other elements of painting were emphasized: compositions were built on line and form thereby adding more solidity to the work. Beal believed in the power of spontaneity and would sometimes rework a "dead" area of color with line in order to revitalize it.

Gifford Beal's style underwent a simplification in the 30s, his "austere" phase which coincided with American regionalism. As he grew older, his work became increasingly free and spirited, in part due to his exploration of different media, especially egg/oil tempera and brush and ink. These changes increased his sense of color and gesture, and he began to emphasize the abstract qualities of his subject. He did some of his boldest and brightest work during the last years of his life.