Chronology of the Life of Arthur Beaumont

1890 Born Arthur Edwin Crabbe on March 25, in Thorpe-St. Andrew near Norwich, England, to Moses Samuel Crabbe and Sarah Jane Belderson Crabbe, the fourth of five children.

1894-1898 Schooled at home by a governess/tutor until nine years of to age. Artistically influenced at an early age by his mother, a novice artist. Sketches fishing schooners in harbor near Yarmouth, England, at age four.

1899-1908 Leaves home to attend boarding school at the Holt School. to Aspire to be an architect, but finds the mathematical requirements too stringent. Leaves school in the spring of 1908 with a baccalaureate degree.

1908 In the summertime, immigrates to Saskatchewan, Canada, to work on the Crosse ranch. Works on the ranch for almost  a year and is fond of the cowboy lifestyle. Sketches all aspects of ranch life which he later depicts in his early landscape paintings.

1909 Lives with his brother Will and his wife May in Oakland, California.   Commutes to work in San Francisco by ferry boat.

1910 Enrolls as a special student at the San Francisco Institute of Art, where he studies for one year.

1911 Takes a summer ranch job in Klamath Falls, Oregon, where he contracts typhoid fever. Is bedridden in Oregon for three to four months, then, miraculously, recovers.

1912-1914 Commences work on the Miller and Lux Ranch in the San to Joaquin Valley. Advances to assistant superintendent of the ranch land division of the Eastside Ranch, where he remains until he is forced to leave due to severe injuries incurred when involved in the apprehension and subsequent conviction of cattle rustlers.

1915 Begins to use the name Arthur Beaumont-Crabbe. Works a construction job at the Los Angeles Bible Institute where he meets his future bride, Dorothy Dean, daughter of Harry and Eva Dean.

1917 Opens first commercial art studio and pursues art as full-
time career.

1919 Marries Dorthey Dean in Los Angeles on April 4th, and they Move in with her parents at 1809 Oak St. in Los Angeles.

1921 Beau enrolls in classes at the Chouinard School of Art,  while pursuing career as a commercial artist. Studies with Stanton MacDonald-Wright.

1922 Birth of his first child, Phyllis Jacqueline Beaumont.

1924 Birth of second child, Dean Edwaine Beaumont.

1925 Accepts scholarship from Mrs. Chouinard to study in Europe. Attends the Slade School of Art at the University of London while residing at the chic Savage club. Receives invitation to view the Royal Collection at Windsor Castle. Studies under Sir William Russell Flint, Sir Frank Brangwyn and Augustus John, all Royal Academicians.

1926 Moves to Paris where he works with Hunt Diederich. He  enrolls at the Academie Julian, studying under Ples Page and Jean-Paul Laurens. Sketches in evenings at Academie de la Grand Chaumitre and Academie Colarossi. Travels to Brussels, Holland, and Spain to see art collections before his return to the U.S.

1927 Teaches classes at Chouinard while continuing freelance commercial art work.

1931 Exhibits first paintings in Pales Verdes and Long Beach, including landscapes and seascapes. Is commissioned to paint several important military portraits, thus establishing his first ties to the U.S. Navy.

1932 Commissioned by the women of the Episcopa diocese of Los Angeles to paint a mural for St. Thomas church in Point Hope, Alaska. Also paints first of three portraits of Vice Admiral William D. Leahy, who is his first patron and who convinces Beau to paint for the Navy. An exhibit is shown at the Beaumont studio at 2506 West Eighth street in Los Angeles which is later shown in San Diego. Beau is also involved with the Olympic Art Festival.

1933 The exhibit which originated in the Beaumont studio is shown in May at the Villa Riviera in Long Beach, then at the Biltmore Salon. The Los Angeles Art Association sponsors this show, entitled "Our Glorious Navy," which travels for
more than a year under the auspices of the American Federation of the Arts. Receives commission as Lieutenant in U.S. Naval Reserve, on August 17.

1934 Third child is born, Barbara Elaine Beaumont. Embarks on the USS Louisville bound for the Panama Canal. Transfers to the USS Portland on which he travels to Norfolk, Virginia. Attends Presidential Review of the Fleet in NewYork where he is personally commended by the President for his painting
of the USS Indianapolis and the Amberjack, which had been given to him. Completes reserve training during the summer on board USS West Virginia. Resigns Navy reserve commission   in December.

1935 Opens studio in the Pacific Coast Club in Long Beach. Teaches classes in studio and continues to paint Navy ships. Works on movie Mutiny on the Bounty painting backdrops for the set. Elected President of the Long Beach Art Association1935-1936 Selected as one of the United State's 50 best watercolor artists.

1936 Painting Gypsy CavnivaI wins first prize for watercolor at the 27th Annual Exhibition, California Art Club. Reelected President of the Long Beach Art Association 1936-1937.

1937 Fourth child is born, Geoffrey Campbell Beaumont. Painting entitled The Wharf wins first prize for watercolor at the 28th Annual Exhibition, California Art Club. Beau is hit by a car outside the Pacific Coast Club in Long Beach and seriously injured.

1938 Family takes up residence at 816 South Saint Andrews Place. Beau is chosen chairman of the 1939 Golden Gate Exposition jury with fellow jury members Jean Mannheim, Katherine Leighton and Millard Sheets. Takes two prizes in the Exposition and also wins the purchase prize in the annual Clearwater Junior High School competition. Begins work as an illustrator/journalist for the Long Beach Press Telegram and the Los Angeles Evening Herald and Express which he continues throughout the war years. Serves as chairman of the Aquarelle Painters, is vice-president of the California Art Club and is on the Board of Governors of the Academy of Western Painters.

1940 Teams with movie actor, Montagu Love, in organizing the Artists and Sculptors Benefit for British and American war relief. Continues in his capacity as War Correspondent, which includes journalistic and artistic work.

1941 Commissioned by National Geographic Magazine to paint a series of works that were reproduced in the September issue called "Ships That Guard Our Ocean Ramparts" Boards the USS Iowa for a cruise to the West Indies, Antilles and the Virgin Islands. Sketches the world's largest battleship and surreptitiously views a voodoo ceremony in Jamaica. Transfers to the Cruiser USS Los Angeles, bound for Guantanamo Bay, Cuba for a shakedown cruise. In November, embarks on the aircraft carrier USS Midway for shakedown cruise once again to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Contracts "cat fever" and is transferred to a hospital ashore for several weeks. While recovering, hitchhikes by air to Oakland on Admiral Nimitz's plane, then returns to Los Angeles.

1942 Commissioned by National Geographic Magazine and sponsored by the War Department to paint a series of sixteen paintings of the Army on maneuvers, The series appears in the November issue of National Geographic. Engaged by Paramount Studios to make scenes for the film Wake Island Beau is given rank as a Senior Combat Artist for the U.S. Navy as a Lieutenant Commander.

1943 July, serves on the Citizens Committee for the $40,000,000 fundraiser to build the USS Los Angeles. Makes billboard posters and other commercial posters for the drive. Signs hundreds of prints of the cruiser which are given to every person who purchases an extra war bond. A letter from the citizens committee congratulates Beau for personally raising $1,500,000.

1944 Completes mural of Pacific and Atlantic war scenes for the Officers Club at Allen Center, Long Beach. Sam Hyde Harris (1889-1977) works with Beau on the project. Makes film "How I Paint a Watercolor," which is accessioned by the UC. Extension Division Film Library. Beau is given War Correspondent status with Navy rank.

1946 In July is selected as an official artist of "Operation Crossroads" the atom bomb tests in Bikini Atoll. While on board the USS Fal1 River, records the effects of the Able and Baker blasts, making 180 sketches and many watercolor paintings of the event. The paintings subsequently are exhibited at the National Gallery in Washington, D.C. and then taken on tour throughout the country under the auspices of Joint Task Force One.

1947 Takes trip to Japan, China, Guam, and other far Eastern countries for two months on the USS St Paul. Views secret Japanese combat paintings in Tokyo. Returns to Los Angeles on board the USS Helena. Depicts scenes from China and
Japan in his paintings for the rest of his career, especially Chinese junks on the Yangtse River. In May, unveils the oil painting commissioned for Los Angeles City Hall of the cruiser USS Los Angeles.

1948 Exhibits many paintings made on trip to the Far East and others at a retrospective exhibit at the Pales Verdes Art Gallery. Paintings of the Navy and of Bikini are shown at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

1949 Teaches classes to more than one hundred students throughout Southern California at the Glendale Art Institute, the San Pedro Art Association, the Lorne D. Middough studio and the B-Q Gallery in Long Beach. Also holds outdoor field classes. Paints a series of works of the California Missions.

1950-1951 Incurs injuries to his right "painting" arm while teaching a to class outdoors. His hand is caught in a collapsible chair, incapacitating him for some time. Takes a trip to Canada with Dot and their grandson, John Seabern. While dining in a restaurant at Emerald Lake, Beau is hit on the shoulder with an ornamental brass tray which fell from a ledge, and exacerbates his earlier injury.

1952 The law firm of Spray, Gould & Bowers of Los Angeles commissions Beau to paint a Dickens Mural for their offices. Due to his injuries, he is forced to paint part of the mural with his left hand. Portraits of his daughter Barbara, his son Geoffrey, his grandson John Seabern, and one of himself appear in the mural. During the summer, Dot, Beau and their daughter, Barbara, take a trip to Mexico. In Mexico City, Beau meets with the artist Diego Rivera and views his works in progress.

1953 Beau is hired by Universal-International Studios to paint six watercolors depicting scenes from the movie The Cruel Sea.

1954 Donates painting to Mrs. Eisenhower depicting The Birth of the Atomic Navy. She subsequently gives the painting of the USS Nautilus to the submarines' commander.

1956 Paints a mural for the California Medical Association. Also paints a mural for the Jonathan Club in Los Angeles,  depicting Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo at San Diego Bay in 1542.

1957 Takes top-of-the-world cruises to the Arctic with the U.S. Navy's Task Group 572 West, acting as staff artist. Based at Point Barrow Alaska on the USS Eldorado, he flies and sails more than 30,000 miles over ice and tundra to sketch and   paint the Arctic region. Makes the first paintings of famous DEW (Distant Early Warning) line sites, and is the first artist and one of the few persons to complete the Northwest Passage by sea, being with the Navy when the first navigable Pacific to Atlantic passage was found. Lectures on the Eldorado and also holds an exhibit of Arctic paintings. Paintings from these explorations are later exhibited throughout the US.

1958 Painting of USS Eldorado appears on the cover of "United States Naval Institute Proceedings" magazine in the May issue and the Canadian icebreaker Labrador appears on the  November cover. Visits the Seventh Fleet in the Orient. Travels to Auckland, New Zealand, on board the USS Bremerton.

1959 Beau is granted permission to go on the Navy's operation Deep Freeze 60 as the staff artist for US. Naval Support  Force Antarctica and Task Force 43. He is granted permission and leaves in November for the Antarctic, where he is attached to the USS Glacier.

1960 Produces 350 sketches and 25 paintings while on assignment exploring the Bellinghausen Sea and the Eights Coast, returning in March. In November he leaves on a second trip to Antarctica. Proceeds to the South Pole, making 25 sketches and 3 paintings at the Pole Station and Geographic Pole. Falls through a snow bridge into an ice crevasse, but luckily, is rescued by a New Zealand Navy captain.

1961 Returns in January from the Antarctic and paintings are senton tour throughout the United States. En route home, cruises to the Trust Islands, Hawaii, Wake Island, Eniwetok, and Midway. Awarded a life membership to the Santa Monica Bay Council of the Navy League.

1963 Chosen one of seventy-five citizens to have attained national recognition for outstanding contributions to society by the  city of Long Beach. Takes trip around the world with Dot.

1964 Awarded the Navy Meritorious Public Service Citation for valuable contributions to the Navy, by the Secretary of the Navy, Paul Nitze. Paints first in a series of Revolutionary War sailing ships since the 1930s.

1966 Travels to Vietnam to sketch the Navy's small craft operations against Viet Cong junks. Takes a trip to Mexico with Dot.

1967 Participates in operation "Blue Coral" on board the USS Chicago. The Beaumont's take up residence at Leisure World in Laguna Hills. Cruise to the West Indies for pleasure.

1968 Takes cruise on the USS Yorktown for two weeks to sketch the ship. Appointed to the Los Angeles Mayor's Community Advisory Board.

1969 The Beaumont's travel to Europe.

1970 Commissioned by the National Steel and Shipbuilding Company to paint 17 LST ships and 7 AFS ships, which he completes over the following three years.

1972 Given "Honorary Aviator" award by the Third Marine Aircraft Wing of the Marine Corps Air Station.

1976 Retrospective exhibition at the Laguna Beach Museum of Art   showing 127 paintings.

1978 Dies in his home on January 23, at age 87.