Art Gallery to Feature Paintings
of Rosemarie Beck
Rider University will feature the exhibition, “Rosemarie
Beck: Paintings 1965-2001,” in the University Art Gallery, Thursday,
March 27 through Monday, April 28.
The exhibition will feature 21 paintings
by Beck, who teaches at the New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting
and Sculpture. An opening day reception will be held March 27 from
5 to 7 p.m. in the gallery. On Thursday, April 10 at 7 p.m., noted
Delaware-based artist and teacher Catherine Drabkin will speak on
Beck’s contributions as both an artist and teacher. The reception,
exhibition and talk are free and open to the public.
“Rosemarie Beck is considered
one of the most important figurative painters of our time,”
said Harry Naar, professor of fine arts and director of the
Rider University Art Gallery. “She has played a critical role
in the development of American art, especially from the New York art
scene during the late ’50s and early ’60s. Rosemarie is
not only an important figurative artist, but also a teacher. This
is an exciting exhibit because her work is deeply rooted in both mythological
and musical concerns. Students, in particular, will see how an artist
can look to historical references to create powerful, meaningful images.”
A graduate of Oberlin College, with
a bachelor’s degree in art history, Beck has 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 Seligman and Robert Motherwell.
Sharing her artistic insights with others,
she has taught at Queens College of New York, Vassar College, Middlebury
College and the Vermont Studio Center. She is recipient of an Ingram
Merrill Grant, a Rockefeller Foundation Grant, two grants to work
in France, and the Benjamin Altman Figure and Landscape Prize.
Beck’s paintings have been featured
in one-person and group exhibitions at such places as the Periodot
Gallery in New York, Dartmouth College, Swarthmore College, Smith
College, The National Academy of Design in New York, Cornell University,
Duke University, American University, and The Pennsylvania Academy
of Art. Her work is in the collections of Corcoran Gallery of Art,
The Hirshhorn Museum of Smithsonian Institution, The Hood Museum,
National Academy of Design, and Trenton Museum of Art, just to name
a few.
Inspired by Beck’s work, Catherine
Drabkin will share her perspectives of Beck with the Rider University
and local communities. Drabkin is represented by Kraushaar Galleries
in New York, which recently featured her fourth solo exhibition. Her
other recent solo exhibitions took place at West Chester University,
The Washington Studio School, Marlboro College and Dartmouth College.
She curated “Ecstasy and Silence: Ten American Painters”
for the Delaware College of Art and Design, where she is a founding
faculty member.
Gallery hours are 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Tuesday through Thursday and noon to 4 p.m. on Sunday. The exhibition
is funded in part by a grant from the Mercer County Cultural and Heritage
Commission, New Jersey State Council on the Arts, Department of State,
and Rider’s Gender Studies Program. For more information, call
Naar at (609) 895-5588.
