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Arthur Beaumont: Marine Painter and Illustrator
The Foot Notes for this section are at the bottom of this
page
In 1963, Virginia Laddey, writing for the Long Beach Independent,
described Arthur Beaumont as an artist "in the grand tradition" of naval art, a
tradition which has its origins in the United States beginning in World War I under
"Operation Palette," the first navy-sponsored art program, and the work of Henry
Reuterdahl (1871-1925).1 Laddey went on to say that
"by nature of its commissioning, [naval art] discourages individuality and
experimentation. Abstraction is anathema. The artist is not to make any qualitative
judgment." 2 It was this artistic constraint which
would be a challenge to Arthur Beaumont throughout his career as an illustrator of naval
events and as a ship portrait painter. His goal, as he stated it in 1933, was to make even
a battleship artistic while, at the same time, maintaining a strict fidelity to accuracy
in the rendering of the subject. 3
Beaumont did not begin his career as a marine painter and illustrator
until 1932. He had already been working over ten years as a commercial artist with his own
design studio in Los Angeles. He always had an interest in ships, and they were often
included in his subject matter. At the 1931 exhibit of the California Water Color Society,
Beaumont's entry was a harbor scene with tugboats docking a large (but unidentified) ship.
In his 1932 one-person exhibition at the Friday Morning Club, he displayed a variety of
works which included ships, tugs, tenders, and horses. (From 1908 to 1915, Beaumont worked
as a cowboy in Saskatchewan, Oregon, and California.)
The turning point in his career came with a one-man exhibition of his
works depicting naval scenes. The show was organized by the artist in May of 1933 and held
at the Villa Riviera in Long Beach. In October the exhibit was seen at the Biltmore Salon
in Los Angeles, and in December Beaumont was notified by the art director of the Los
Angeles Art Association that they would sponsor travel for the exhibition to the East. The
show toured under the auspices of the American Federation of the Arts. It traveled for
over a year and was seen in Washington, D.C., where the works were exhibited by the
National Gallery of Art in the foyer of the Natural History Building, in New York, Newport
(Rhode Island), Boston, Philadelphia, and Chicago, before returning to Los Angeles. The
exhibit was entitled "Our Glorious Navy," and included in the present exhibition
are five works from that show: Hornet's
Nest, USS Saratoga; Heavy Weather USS Oklahoma; The Robot, USS Utah; Past and Present,
USS Pennsylvania and USS Constitution
and In the Canal, USS Ranger.
The exhibition was generally well-received with enthusiastic reviews.
Edward Alden Jewell, writing in The New York Times, referred to the exhibition as
"timely," in its portrayal of "a navy rapidly changing in physical
appearance through necessity and modernization." 4
Another reviewer described the exhibit as "a stirring impression of the majesty and
dignity of the Navy." 5 This was a time of peace and
relative isolation from the troubles which were brewing in Europe and Asia. The US. Army
was not a large or well-organized fighting force. The U.S. Navy, however, was always
considered to be vital in its role as guardian of the country's shores. Thus, the public
responded enthusiastically to an exhibition which reassured them of the ability of our
navy to mount a defense against any aggressor. A journal of conservatism, The
Daughters of the American Revolution Magazine, wrote an article about the exhibition
in glowing terms. 6
The opening paragraph made it clear that the Navy was
constantly in the news and was a controversial topic with regard to the cost of its upkeep
and modernization. President Roosevelt, himself a Navy man, was a staunch supporter who
recognized the maintenance and modernization of the Navy to be important for the
economy--providing jobs during the Depression--as well as for national defense.
Beaumont was able to attend the opening of his New York show at MacBeth
Gallery and described the Navy as "a protective and not an aggressive force...I am
accenting the beautiful and the good in our Navy, which I really believe is its
predominating quality." 7 He also was
introduced to Roosevelt during a Fleet Review in New York, at which time he was personally
commended for his painting of the USS Indianapolis and the Amberjack,
the Presidential yacht. 8
While the exhibit was circulating Beaumont was serving as a Lieutenant
in the Naval Reserve taking what would be the first many cruises aboard naval vessels.
Beaumont's naval appointment was a result of his relationship with Admiral William D.
Leahy, whose portrait he had painted in 1932. After Beaumont inquired about taking passage
on naval vessels in order to pursue his career, Leahy suggested that he be commissioned in
the Naval Reserve. Beaumont did serve with the Navy from August 17, 1933 to December 27,
1934; later, however, it was the cultivation of his friendships with officers of the fleet
that enabled him to continue in his avowed profession. 9
Beaumont's early paintings, such as those from "Our Glorious
Navy," are, with few exceptions, stylistically compatible to those of other
watercolorists working in Los Angeles in the late 1920s and early 1930s. His use of the
medium was very controlled with simple areas of light washes and the drawing was simple
and clear. 10 However, by the late 1930s his style had
changed; the works became bolder in composition as well as more expressive in the
depiction of water and sky.
It was during this period that the artists active with the California
Water Color Society were also changing the manner which the medium was used; the works
were splashy and expressive, with bolder brushstrokes and white paper showing through as a
design element. Although Beaumont had only exhibited with the California Water Color
Society from 1929 to 1931, he was nevertheless very familiar with the leading artists in
the group. It is likely his association with that group of artists influenced the change
in his style. In Beaumont's one-person exhibit at the Friday Morning Club in May 1937, one
critic remarked on the "spontaneity and lively coloring" and the way in which
the artist let "white paper add the charm of light" 11
It was also in 1937 that Beaumont received first prize in watercolor from the California
Art Club for The Wharf; an
intimate, non harbor scene.
With the advent of war in Europe in 1939, Beaumont was retained as a
journalist illustrator by the Los Angeles Evening Herald and Express. As reports
of battles came in over the wire service, the information was relayed to the artist. In a
few hours Beaumont would deliver a black-ink illustration of the scene which would be used
as part of a leading story in that night's edition of the paper. The paintings, created
entirely from the artist's imagination, were full of action and remarkable for the speed
with which they were produced, the paper commented that many persons collected the
reproductions as an historic record of the war.12
Appreciation for the quality of his work in its realistic interpretation came from the
Navy, and may have been responsible for his being commissioned in 1941 to paint a series
of works for National Geographic Magazine,
published in September 1941. The eight paintings were exhibited at various locations
throughout the country. The accompanying text, entitled "Ships That Guard Our Ocean
Ramparts," was clearly intended to reinforce public confidence in the ability of our
navy to defend the country in the inevitable war. Early in 1941, Life magazine had also
commissioned a number of artists, among them Californians Fletcher Martin and Paul Sample,
to "show how the United States was preparing for the possibility of war." 13
Furthermore, such projects also served to invoke a strong sense of nationalism which would
reverse public sentiment toward a pacifist policy.
Because of its portability and ease of handling, watercolor was a
medium chosen by many of these artists who had to paint "on location" in what
were not ideal circumstances. Beaumont him self, who usually worked in his studio from
sketches, painted with the army on
maneuvers in North and South Carolina and in the desert Southwest in the spring of 1942.
These works were also published by the National
Geographic Magazine in its November 1942 issue accompanied by text written by the
artist. However, like many of the paintings which recorded our preparations for war,
Beaumont's were tightly rendered, factual accounts and lacked much of the vitality of his
navy works. Reginald Poland, Director of the San Diego Art Gallery, agreed with public
opinion that the army themes were too illustrative. Yet, at the same time he noted that
"some of the greatest art that has come down from the past and today lives with even
greater force, is illustrative, sometimes propagandist art. After all, art, truly being of
life, may be still more vital, if definitely integrated with life and its incidental
facts, instead of merely being art for art's sake." 14
Beaumont's series in the National Geographic
Magazine secured his position in the public eye as an illustrator of naval
scenes. His journalistic activities during World War II were carried out under a variety
of auspices, including Artist Correspondent for the Los Angeles Evening Herald-Express.15
His services were also retained by Paramount Studios to create advertising art for their
movie Wake Island 16 One of those
paintings, US Airship Attaching
Japanese Warship, is included in this exhibition.
His most public activity was with the City of Los Angeles in raising
funds for the building of the cruiser USS
Los Angeles. As part Of that effort, he created a limited edition lithograph
of the Ship and a number of posters as well.17 As
correspondent for the Herald-Express, he traveled on the shakedown cruise of the USS Los Angeles in the summer
of 1945 to Guantanamo Bay where he joined the aircraft carrier USS Midway for its shakedown
cruise. His first person accounts of those trips were published in the newspaper
accompanied by his sketches and illustrations. 18 One of
the paintings completed from sketches made on that cruise is Mission Tokyo, included in
this exhibition.
Beaumont's sketching ability and technique were most effectively
utilized in July 1946 when he was assigned by the Navy as one of two civilian, or
"off-Navy," artists of record at the Bikini Atoll atom bomb tests,
"Operation Crossroads." 19 The sixteen paintings made of that event provide a unique record of
the beginning of the nuclear age at a time when we were still mostly unaware about the
ramifications of that weaponry. Beaumont himself deliberately did not protect his eyes
when watching the bomb blast in order to more accurately interpret the colors of the
mushroom cloud, something cameras could not record since their light meters were rendered
inaccurate by the flash. He later wrote about the experience:
"The huge mushroom cloud climbed upward changing color from yellow to salmon
pink...from mauve to molten iron, the cloud reached about 20,000 feet, then another
mushroom formation appeared near the bottom. I sketched madly, writing in the
colors...After thirty minutes, the cloud was still about 30,000 feet high and still
drifting." 20
In the fall of 1947 Beaumont received permission to join the crew of
the USS St. Paul on a
cruise to China, Japan, and Guam. Over the next ten
years he continued to paint and exhibit works depicting naval ships, and painted a series
of murals. He also received a second motion picture studio commission from Universal-International
Studios for The Cruel Sea. 21
Beaumont's most challenging task, however, came relatively late in his
career, from 1957 to 1961. It was during this period that he was able to secure permission
to travel with major expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctic. First, in the summer of
1957, he spent seven weeks with the US. Navy's Task Group 572 West along the DEW (Distant
Early Warning) line, the ring of early warning stations which alerted Canada and the
United States against attack. He then made two trips to Antarctica, the first with "Operation
Deep Freeze 60" from October 30, 1959, to March 13, 1960; the second with "Operation Deep Freeze 61"
from November 6, 1960 to January 19, 1961. Beaumont, who found a rare beauty in these
frozen areas, remarked: "People think of the Antarctic as being all white, but
actually it is full of color. It's stupendous...out of this world!" 22
The pattern of ice floes, the unique abstract forms of icebergs, and the rare atmosphere,
provided an unusual background for his subject. It also gave him an opportunity for
greater personal expression and creativity in his work, especially in the depiction of sky
and water. In Arctic Ice Blink
Beaumont effectively portrays the glaring light in the sky caused by the reflection off a
large ice field. The ships below seem to be imprisoned by the cold. In The First Iceberg--a
compelling portrayal of the awesome beauty and danger in the Antarctic -- a ship is
completely dwarfed by a enormous iceberg. Beaumont was also able to successfully depict
the more human element in works such as Somewhere On Top of the World, (Point
Barrow Station, Alaska), a genre piece which captures the rustic charm of the distant
north.
The importance and the strength of Arthur Beaumont's work lies in its
being a factual, yet personal, visual interpretation of historical events. He always
worked with the knowledge that his severest criticism would come from the Navy who
demanded that every detail be recorded accurately Early in his career, one reviewer noted
that his work was "widely recognized by the officers and men of the Fleet, who would
discern at a glance if a turret or even a screw were out of place in a painting of any of
their beloved vessels." 23 Changes in the facts were
only allayed if discretion was necessary in order to protect classified information.
Because of this restriction, it was in the interpretation of water and sky that Beaumont
allowed himself artistic license. It is there you can see his skill in the handling of the
watercolor medium rich, flowing color, spontaneous and expressive brushstrokes, and
abstraction of form. Many of the non-naval harbor scenes, no less historical in their
recording of a time past, were done on location rather than in the studio. The sense of
immediacy in these works and their more personal interpretation relate them to paintings
by the artists of the California Water Color Society and to the tradition of plein air
painting.
Arthur Beaumont is one of the best known of the Navy artists. Appreciation for
his work continues today, eleven years after his death. Even the Navy occasionally still
reproduces his work in various publications. They expressed appreciation to him in 1964
when he was awarded their highest civilian award, the Meritorious Public Service Citation
for his services "as a distinguished marine artist."
Janet B. Dominik
Guest Curator
This essay was written for an exhibition at the Laguna Art Museum in Laguna Beach,
California, which was held from May 18 to July 23, 1989.
Foot Notes
Arthur Beaumont: Marine Painter and Illustrator
1. Long Beach Independent, 11 February 1963.
2. Ibid.
3. Long Beach Press Telegram, 22 February1933.
4. New York Times, 5 June 1934.
5. New York Evening Journal, 16 June 1934.
6. Florence Seville Berryman, "'Portraits of the United States
Fleet" Daughters of the American Revolution Magazine (August 1934): 475-479.
7. New York Evening Journal, 16 June 1934.
8. This painting is part of the Navy Historical Collection, Washington,
D.C. However, it was not available for exhibition because it is damaged and currently
undergoing restoration.
9. If Beaumont had remained as an officer in the Naval Reserve, ownership
of all paintings would have been retained by the Navy. (See also note 15.)
10. One critic in Washington was not pleased with the artist's
interpretation of water in some of the works, remarking that his ships appeared to be
sitting on, not in the water. Leila Mechlin, The Sunday Star (Washington, D.C.), 20 May
1934. It is interesting that Beaumont retained this criticism in his scrapbook records.
Perhaps he accepted and heeded the advice, as such a criticism cannot be leveled at
his later works.
11. Unidentified news clipping, Beaumont scrapbook, marked as Times
(probably Los Angeles Times), 20 May 1937.
12. Los Angeles Evening Herald and Express, 17 October 1940.
13. "Defense Paintings: Life Recruits Major Artists," Life,
July 7, 1941, pp. 60ff.
14. The San Diego Union, 14 November 1943.
15. There is some confusion concerning Beaumont's official activities
with the Navy. His transcript of service, dated 15 March 1944, indicates his resignation
as a Lieutenant in the Naval Reserve was accepted on 27 December 1934. Yet various
newspaper and magazine articles published
during the war identify him as a Lieutenant Commander or a Commander. John
Barnett, Curator of the Navy Combat Art Collection in Washington, D.C., has told me that
there are no records to indicate that Beaumont was an "Official Combat Artist"
Also, Beaumont himself, in a letter to an "Admiral Benson" dated December 12,
1957 (Beaumont archives), did not list himself as having been a combat artist but rather
an "Artist-Correspondent" with clearances for various assignments with the Navy.
16. Those paintings, along with the National Geographic Magazine army
series paintings, were exhibited at the Los Angeles County Museum in Exposition Park in
June 1942.
17. Beaumont received a letter advising him that he was personally
responsible for
raising $1,500,000 through both the sale of lithographs and the sale of bonds. Each person
who bought a bond received a print of the lithograph.
18. Unmarked newspaper clippings, Beaumont scrapbooks.
19. The other artist was Ralston Crawford, b. 1906.
20. South Coast News (Laguna Beach), 17 October 1946.
21. Beaumont's activities were limited during this period because of two
accidents, one in which he injured his painting hand.
22. Unidentified newspaper clipping, Beaumont scrapbooks.
23. Berryman, "'Portraits'," 476.
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