Arthello Beck Jr. (July 17, 1941 – November 5, 2004) was an American artist. He often painted scenes of places he had visited, using a variety of mediums, including

oils An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturate ...

watercolor Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to ...

s, and charcoal. Beck was born in

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County ...

, and attended Lincoln High School, where he received his only formal art training. Afterwards, he worked for the

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, as well as various other jobs before becoming a professional artist. He is possibly known best for his works from the 1960s dealing with the

Civil Rights Movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the Unite ...

, although Beck commonly featured other subjects, including children, religion, and human interaction, particularly in the

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...

community in the southern regions of the

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. A longtime resident of

Oak Cliff Oak Cliff is a neighborhood of Dallas, Texas, that was formerly a separate town in Dallas County; Dallas annexed Oak Cliff in 1901. It has since retained a distinct neighborhood identity as one of Dallas' older established neighborhoods. Oak C ...

, Beck was a firm believer in

grassroots movement A grassroots movement is one that uses the people in a given district, region or community as the basis for a political or economic movement. Grassroots movements and organizations use collective action from the local level to effect change at t ...

s, and established the Arthello Beck Gallery, which became a centerpiece of the Dallas area art scene in the 1970s and 80s, and was instrumental to the careers of many black artists. Beck was a member of the National Conference of Artists and the Southwest Alliance of African American Artists, and was one of the founders of the Southwest Black Artists Guild.Text of House Resolution 1760 honoring Arthello Beck, Jr.
Texas House of Representatives, May 24, 2005

Honors

His paintings and sketches were among those selected for inclusion in a touring exhibition of athlete Grant Hill's collection of

artists. Hill, who began collecting art in emulation of his father,

Calvin Hill Calvin G. Hill (born January 2, 1947) is a retired American football player. He played running back in the National Football League (NFL) for twelve seasons. Hill played for the Dallas Cowboys, Washington Redskins, and Cleveland Browns. He also p ...

, particularly cited Beck's painting ''Confrontation'' (1969) as an influence, saying, "I grew up with this painting, and just as my father is attached to it because it reflects the historic struggle of the black male, so am I.""Dallas Museum of Art Presents Exhibition of Grant Hill’s Collection of African American Art — Something All Our Own: The Grant Hill Collection of African American Art, Dec. 19, 2004–April 17, 2005,"
published Dec. 3, 2004 In 2007, a local campaign was organized to rename the South Dallas Cultural Center in Beck's honor. Although a petition was signed by over 850 residents, the City Council voted unanimously to reject the proposal, choosing instead to give his name to a

gallery Gallery or The Gallery may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Art gallery ** Contemporary art gallery Music * Gallery (band), an American soft rock band of the 1970s Albums * ''Gallery'' (Elaiza album), 2014 album * ''Gallery'' (Gr ...

within the center. The decision met with controversy on both sides, as proponents felt that a gallery within the building was not a sufficiently prominent honor, while others argued that the center's current name brings honor to a section of town that is often maligned and that a majority of the petition's signers lived outside the South Dallas area. Painters in Dallas
Dallaspaints

Notes

External links

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20070620074458/http://www.dfwairport.com/cdp/art/artists/beck2.html Picture of ''Cypress Trees'' Arthello Beck

mosaic A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...

on the terminal floor in Dallas/Ft. Worth International Airport {{DEFAULTSORT:Beck, Arthello 1941 births 2004 deaths 20th-century American painters American male painters 21st-century American painters Artists from Dallas 20th-century African-American painters 21st-century African-American artists 20th-century American male artists