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BiographyBorn to Hungarian Jewish immigrants in New York, Rosemarie Beck graduated from Oberlin College with a bachelor's degree in art history in 1944. Beck later studied at Columbia University, the Art Students League in New York, the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University, and in workshops with well-known artists Kurt Seligmann and Robert Motherwell. In 1945, she married author Robert Phelps, and they moved to Woodstock, N.Y. There she struck up lifelong friendships with Philip Guston and Bradley Walker Tomlin.Early in her career, Beck was regarded as a member of the second generation of the New York School of abstract expressionists and her work was often exhibited at the annual shows of the Stable and Peridot galleries. Beginning in the late 1940s, she was mentored and promoted, first by Kurt Selgimann and then by Robert Motherwell in their respective ateliers. During this time, Beck identified as an abstract expressionist, but by the late 1950s, she had switched to the figurative focus that she would retain for the rest of her career. Beck described her transition this way: "The ore in my abstract veins had thinned. I thought I would nourish my abstract painting by painting subjects. Then I couldn't go back. I must have been a secret realist all along because I had never stopped drawing from life."Beck became "one of the few painters of our time to treat grand themes in ambitious multi-figure compositions while satisfying a need both for abstract structure and for an execution that embodies energy without being gratuitous," according to critic Martica Sawin.Beck taught at Queens College of New York, Vassar College, Middlebury College, the Vermont Studio Center, Parsons School of Design, and the New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture, where she was on the faculty until shortly before she died.
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Works
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Exhibitions
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News
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Women in Construction
Rosemarie Beck | The Art Students League October 24, 2024October 24 – November 24, 2024 Women in Construction is a thematic group exhibition that explores the myriad ways women-identifying artists literally and figuratively construct...Read more -
Van Doren Waxter Announces Representation of The Rosemarie Beck Foundation
March 11, 2024“I began to want to put my light on something.” -Rosemarie Beck, 1959 Van Doren Waxter is delighted to announce exclusive representation of the Rosemarie...Read more
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Publications
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Art fairs
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Art Basel Miami Beach
Booth G4 December 6 - 8, 2024Van Doren Waxter will present a select group of works that embody expressionism and restraint. The variety of formalist impulses behind this concept will be...Read more -
The Art Show | ADAA
Booth B2 October 30 - November 2, 2024Van Doren Waxter's booth will showcase collage works by artists Rosemarie Beck, Richard Diebenkorn, Louise Fishman, Sonia Gechtoff, Vera Molnár, Alan Shields, and Jack Tworkov....Read more -
Independent 20th Century
Booth A5 September 5 - 8, 2024For the 2024 Independent 20th Century, Van Doren Waxter is pleased to present Landscape Figuration, showcasing works by Rosemarie Beck, Zoe Longfield, Vivian Springford, and...Read more -
Art Basel Miami Beach
December 8 - 10, 2023Meridians : Alan Shields Kabinett : Alan Shields: Works on PaperRead more -
The Art Show | ADAA
November 1 - 5, 2023
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Press
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Rosemarie Beck: Earthly Paradise
Airmail | by Jeanne MalleNovember 26, 2024 -
The Untold Story of Rosemarie Beck, the Abstract Artist Who Gave Up Fame For Figuration
Artnet News | by Katie WhiteNovember 14, 2024 -
Art Show 2023
Artsy | by Maxwell RabbNovember 2, 2023 -
Rosemarie Beck: Paintings 1965-2001
New York Studio School | by Martica SawinJanuary 22, 2004 -
ART: THE LANDSCAPE IN 17TH-CENTURY ROME
The New York Times | by Michael BrensonFebruary 22, 1985 -
A Conversation with Rosemarie Beck
Arts Magazine | Kim LevinFebruary 1, 1979 -
Rosemarie Beck: A Painter's Reality
American Artist | by Lorraine GilliganSeptember 1, 1978 -
New Work by Miss Beck Is Sustained by Technique
The New York Times | by James R. MellowMay 20, 1972 -
Whitney Show Traces Abstract Paths
The New York Times | by Howard DevreeJanuary 19, 1958
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