Exonian Profiles
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Rediscovering Abstract Artist Richard Beaman ’28
Dick Beaman ’28 had not exhibited his paintings in almost two decades when he was invited to open the fall 1999 season at Space 12 in Boston’s South End. It was purely by “accident” that the show was arranged, says Beaman, “a matter of the right people being in the right place at the right time.” On the recommendation of a mutual acquaintance, Space 12’s director visited Beaman in Rockport, Massachusetts, where he and his wife Jeanne have been living since 1970, and was so impressed by the power of the works that he urged Beaman to let him arrange the show. “We showed 12 canvases, says Space 12 director Greg Shea, “but I would have liked to exhibit twice that many. The show, “Discovered Abstracts,” opened on September 8 and received what Beaman calls a “generous” review by Cate McQuaid in The Boston Globe. “He started in watercolor,” she wrote, “and the acrylics in this exhibit were handled with a watercolorist’s finesse. His paint explodes and disintegrates in fantastic textures over his canvas.” It was selling a few watercolors at the height of the depression in the 1930s that convinced Beaman that a career as an artist was possible. With degrees in philosophy from Harvard and Union Theological Seminary, he headed for California and the University of Redlands, where he founded both the art department and the art gallery. Eighteen years later, in 1958, he came back east to Carnegie-Mellon, where he continued to paint and teach. Once he discovered acrylics, he did most of his work in this water-based medium, including all those in the recent exhibition, which date from the 1970s. Of Beaman’s four children, only his son, Peter ’63, attended the Academy. But granddaughter Elizabeth ’96, has also followed in his footsteps, owing much to her grandfather’s encouragement. Elizabeth recalls that in Rockport her grandfather stored his paintings in the garage. All the paintings she remembers seeing there were abstract landscapes, including her favorite, “a forest of birch trees with drips of color or light behind it.” Of the paintings in the show, only “Witnesses” is largely figurative. It features three haunting black holes, which “spin like dark nebulae, hovering in hoods of white that drop into the pale shapes of neck and torso;’ as one reviewer described it. Although apparently abstract, the artist’s paintings are based on nature, even this one, according to the artist. “Nature is always there,” he says. Beaman’s eyesight has been failing for several years and he no longer paints, but having an exhibit at age 90 confirms his place as an artist. “With the number of fine painters out there,” he explains, “It is very difficult for an artist to gain gallery support.” Fortuitous circumstances contributed to this show by an abstract artist with passion and staying power, who never expected to show his works again. —Janice Reiter |
