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Rosemarie Beck

Rosemarie Beck

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  • Biography
    View works. Rosemarie Beck, Bathers, 1985
    Bathers, 1985
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    Born 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.
    Download Artist's CV (PDF, opens in a new tab.)
  • Works
    Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: Rosemarie Beck, Study, Tempest: Ariel's Kind, 1979

    Rosemarie Beck

    Study, Tempest: Ariel's Kind, 1979
    Oil on canvas
    16 x 22 in
    40.6 x 55.9 cm
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  • Exhibitions
    • installation view

      Rosemarie Beck, Zoe Longfield, and Hedda Sterne: 1948-1957

      3rd Floor Gallery April 10 - June 27, 2025
      Van Doren Waxter is pleased to present “Rosemarie Beck, Zoe Longfield, and Hedda Sterne: 1948-1957,' an exhibition of earlier works by AbEx women artists the gallery represents. Rosemarie Beck (b....
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    • installation view

      Small is Beautiful

      2nd Floor Gallery February 6 - April 4, 2025
      Van Doren Waxter is pleased to present Small is Beautiful, an exhibition of small-scale works by 22 artists, both familiar and new faces to the gallery’s program. The exhibition features...
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    • installation view

      Rosemarie Beck

      Earthly Paradise November 13, 2024 - January 31, 2025
      “The pursuit of light is a lost cause today. It’s my pursuit nonetheless.” Rosemarie Beck, 1971 Van Doren Waxter is delighted to announce Rosemarie Beck: Earthly Paradise , a radiant,...
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  • News
    • a logo that says "stitched"

      Stitched: Contemporary Embroidery

      Rosemarie Beck | Bedford Gallery January 11, 2025
      January 11 – March 30, 2025 Stitched: Contemporary Embroidery explores the evolution of embroidery and the artists who are redefining the medium. Works by 19...
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    • an image with a wooden sculpture and the words "Women in Construction" above

      Women in Construction

      Rosemarie Beck | The Art Students League October 24, 2024
      October 24 – November 24, 2024 Women in Construction is a thematic group exhibition that explores the myriad ways women-identifying artists literally and figuratively construct...
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    • a black an white photo of a woman in an art studio

      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...
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  • Publications
    • cover of a book

      Rosemarie Beck

      Earthly Paradise 2024
      Softcover, 53 pages
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  • Art fairs
    • installation view

      Art Basel Miami Beach

      Booth G4 December 6 - 8, 2024
      Van Doren Waxter will present a select group of works that embody expressionism and restraint. The variety of formalist impulses behind this concept will be...
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    • installation view

      The Art Show | ADAA

      Booth B2 October 30 - November 2, 2024
      Van 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....
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    • art fair booth with various framed artworks on the wall

      Independent 20th Century

      Booth A5 September 5 - 8, 2024
      For the 2024 Independent 20th Century, Van Doren Waxter is pleased to present Landscape Figuration , showcasing works by Rosemarie Beck, Zoe Longfield, Vivian Springford,...
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    • installation view

      Art Basel Miami Beach

      December 8 - 10, 2023
      Meridians : Alan Shields Kabinett : Alan Shields: Works on Paper
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    • installation view of an art fair booth with various artworks

      The Art Show | ADAA

      November 1 - 5, 2023
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  • Press
    • Rosemarie Beck: Earthly Paradise

      The Brooklyn Rail | by Leah Triplett Harrington
      December 11, 2024
    • Rosemarie Beck: Earthly Paradise

      Airmail | by Jeanne Malle
      November 26, 2024
    • The Untold Story of Rosemarie Beck, the Abstract Artist Who Gave Up Fame For Figuration

      Artnet News | by Katie White
      November 14, 2024
    • Art Show 2023

      Artsy | by Maxwell Rabb
      November 2, 2023
    • Rosemarie Beck: Paintings 1965-2001

      New York Studio School | by Martica Sawin
      January 22, 2004
    • ART: THE LANDSCAPE IN 17TH-CENTURY ROME

      The New York Times | by Michael Brenson
      February 22, 1985
    • A Conversation with Rosemarie Beck

      Arts Magazine | Kim Levin
      February 1, 1979
    • Rosemarie Beck: A Painter's Reality

      American Artist | by Lorraine Gilligan
      September 1, 1978
    • New Work by Miss Beck Is Sustained by Technique

      The New York Times | by James R. Mellow
      May 20, 1972
    • Whitney Show Traces Abstract Paths

      The New York Times | by Howard Devree
      January 19, 1958

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