Abram Raphael Beck (November 16, 1858 – May 29, 1947) was an American

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, th ...

born in

Lancaster, Pennsylvania Lancaster, ( ; pdc, Lengeschder) is a city in and the county seat of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. It is one of the oldest inland cities in the United States. With a population at the 2020 census of 58,039, it ranks 11th in population amon ...

. He is best known for his work related to the

Pan-American Exposition The Pan-American Exposition was a World's Fair held in Buffalo, New York, United States, from May 1 through November 2, 1901. The fair occupied of land on the western edge of what is now Delaware Park, extending from Delaware Avenue to Elmwood ...

Life and work

Named after the famous painter, Beck was the oldest of the eight children of J. Augustus Beck, an accomplished artist who designed the bas relief at the foot of the

Washington Monument The Washington Monument is an obelisk shaped building within the National Mall in Washington, D.C., built to commemorate George Washington, once commander-in-chief of the Continental Army (1775–1784) in the American Revolutionary War and ...

. When Beck was 20, after studying with his father, he traveled to Europe for two years to study in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and ...

with the famous landscape artist, Paul Weber, and then at the

Académie Julian The Académie Julian () was a private art school for painting and sculpture founded in Paris, France, in 1867 by French painter and teacher Rodolphe Julian (1839–1907) that was active from 1868 through 1968. It remained famous for the number ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

. After his return to the States, Beck began his first major commissioned work, a series of murals for the capitol building in

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Harrisburg is the capital city of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Dauphin County. With a population of 50,135 as of the 2021 census, Harrisburg is the 9th largest city and 15th largest municipality in ...

. Around this time he also settled in

Lockport, New York Lockport is both a city and the town that surrounds it in Niagara County, New York. The city is the Niagara county seat, with a population of 21,165 according to 2010 census figures, and an estimated population of 20,305 as of 2019. Its name d ...

and established a studio in Buffalo. Beck produced a wide variety of artworks including stained glass windows, life size masks,

etching Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio (incised) in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may be used on other types ...

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 ...

watercolors 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 t ...

, and large murals, including a mural of the opening of the

Erie Canal The Erie Canal is a historic canal in upstate New York that runs east-west between the Hudson River and Lake Erie. Completed in 1825, the canal was the first navigable waterway connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes, vastly reducing t ...

, an oil painting of the pilgrims landing at Plymouth, Massachusetts, and a portrait of General Lafayette among others. Beck maintained his studio in Buffalo for thirty years. He went on to design the logo for the 1905

Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition The Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition, commonly also known as the Lewis and Clark Exposition, and officially known as the Lewis and Clark Centennial and American Pacific Exposition and Oriental Fair, was a worldwide exposition held in Portlan ...

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

. Beck died in 1947 and is buried at the Lockport Glenwood Cemetery.

Exposition logo

The logo of two women in the shape of North and South America, holding hands through Central America came to be the most recognizable symbol of the

. Beck's design was chosen as the official logo by the Pan-American Exposition Company from over 400 entries.Beck Design Accepted. ''Buffalo News'', May 3, 1899.
Page 183 of Volume 03: 24 volumes of mounted clippings from local newspapers (1897-1904) addressing a variety of topics concerning the 1901 Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, NY New York Heritage
retrieved April 24, 2012 It was copyrighted in 1899 and Beck was awarded $100 for his work.Pan-American Emblem. ''Buffalo Express'', May 7, 1899.
Page 195 of Volume 03: 24 volumes of mounted clippings from local newspapers (1897-1904) addressing a variety of topics concerning the 1901 Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, NY New York Heritage
retrieved April 24, 2012 His design appeared on a variety of souvenirs ranging from paperweights, pins, and postcards to decks of cards, toothpick holders, and clocks, although the Exposition's executive committee had originally planned to use the Beck design "only for dignified purposes".Exposition Cafe. ''Buffalo Commercial'', August 22, 1899.
Page 120 of Volume 04: 24 volumes of mounted clippings from local newspapers (1897-1904) addressing a variety of topics concerning the 1901 Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, NY New York Heritage
retrieved April 24, 2012 Realizing its popularity, however, the committee decided to profit from the design as much as possible by selling it to manufacturers.Plans Under Way. ''Buffalo Commercial'', November 14, 1899.
Page 198 of Volume 04: 24 volumes of mounted clippings from local newspapers (1897-1904) addressing a variety of topics concerning the 1901 Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, NY New York Heritage
retrieved April 24, 2012 As a result, the use of the logo was so prevalent that it was on "everything that didn't move and some things that did." Some unofficial variations of the logo also appeared on souvenirs, produced by vendors who wanted to cash in on the familiarity of the Beck logo.

McKinley's last portrait

Beck painted what would become President

William McKinley William McKinley (January 29, 1843September 14, 1901) was the 25th president of the United States, serving from 1897 until his assassination in 1901. As a politician he led a realignment that made his Republican Party largely dominant in ...

's last portrait. During McKinley's visit to Buffalo, Beck arranged to observe McKinley during his tour of the Exposition, including the President's speech to a crowd of 50,000 near the Triumphal Bridge. With the preliminary sketches for the portrait completed, Beck left Buffalo for a business trip to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Beck was in New York when McKinley died and he went to work immediately to complete the portrait entitled ''President McKinley Delivering His Last Great Speech at the Pan-American Exposition, Sept. 5, 1901.'' The portrait was hung in the U.S. Senate and later became property of the

Buffalo History Museum The Buffalo History Museum (founded as the Buffalo Historical Society, and later named the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society) is located at 1 Museum Court (formerly 25 Nottingham Court) in Buffalo, New York, just east of Elmwood Avenue and ...

. Raphael Beck Biography

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propertie ...

, retrieved August 8, 2008

References

External links

The Buffalo and Erie County Historical SocietyList of works by Raphael Beck at Meibohm Fine Arts

East Aurora, NY East Aurora is a village in Erie County, New York, United States, southeast of Buffalo. It lies in the eastern half of the town of Aurora. The village population was 5,998 per the 2020 census. It is part of the Buffalo–Niagara Falls Met ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beck, Raphael 1858 births 1947 deaths History of Buffalo, New York 19th-century American painters American male painters 20th-century American painters 19th-century American male artists 20th-century American male artists

Life and work

Exposition logo

McKinley's last portrait

See also

References

External links