Though the paintings retained the sensuousness of his earlier canvases, the rigorous formality of their composition and the masterful treatment of light and shadow offered a new approach to realist painting. His subsequent adoption of the female nude - modeled by his wife, the artist Sondra Freckelton - was a break-through. Clement Greenberg’s pronouncement around this time, that the figure was no longer a valid subject was taken as a challenge by many artists, Beal included. Dissatisfied with abstract painting, he “wanted to give Art one more try” and in working from nature “fell in love with painting all over again.” Over the next few years Beal worked toward a balance between expressionistic paint handling and realistic, narrative pictures.
In 1956 Beal left the Art Institute and moved to New York with the aim of finding success as a painter, eventually becoming one of the first artists to settle in the SoHo neighborhood.Ī turning point came in 1962 when, spending the summer in upstate New York, Beal decided to begin painting outdoors. His classmates there included Red Grooms, Richard Estes, Claes Oldenberg and Robert Barnes, and while abstract expressionism remained “the only valid way to paint,” it was a style that all would eventually reject. A decision to take evening art classes lead to his attending the Art Institute of Chicago, where he studied from the old masters in the Institute’s collection and with Isobel Steele MacKinnon, a student of Hans Hoffman. He briefly attended the College of William and Mary, studying biology, but dropped out after two years. Jack Beal (1931-2013) was born and raised in Richmond, Virginia.
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