Beck, Rafael

Born on November 16, 1858 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He was the eldest of eight children of Augustus Beck, a famous artist and designer who designed the bas-relief at the foot of the Washington Monument . After a long class with his father, when he was already 20 years old, he went on a two-year journey through Europe. He worked in Munich with the famous landscape painter Paul Weber, and then at the Academy of Julian in Paris .

After returning to the United States, Beck began training on his first major work: she became a series of panels for the Capitol building in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania . Around this time, he also settled in New York and founded an art studio in Buffalo .

Beck created a wide variety of works, such as stained glass windows , masks, engravings , oils , watercolors , large panels , including a fresco at the entrance to the Erie Canal , as well as oil paintings: in particular, a portrait of General Lafayette .

He worked at his studio in Buffalo for thirty years. He was the logo designer for the Centenary Lewis & Clark Exhibit in Portland, Oregon . He died in 1947 and was buried in the Glenwood-Lockport cemetery.

The logo, which depicts two women in the form of North and South Americas, who hold hands across the countries of Central America, has become the most recognizable symbol of the Pan American Exhibition . Beck's logo was chosen as the official emblem of the exhibition, beating more than 400 works by other applicants ^[1] . The logo was officially adopted under copyright protection in 1899 and the artist received $ 100 for his work ^[2] .

His image was subsequently placed on various souvenirs, such as paperweight, badges, postcards, decks of cards, toothpick holders and watches, although the executive committee of the exposition initially planned to use the image of Beck "only for worthy purposes" ^[3] . Understanding his popularity, however, the committee decided to extract the maximum profit from it ^[4] . Thus, this logo has become so widespread that it can be found "on all things that did not move and on some that moved." Some informal variations of the logo also appeared on souvenirs made by suppliers who wanted to cash in on the similarities with the Beck logo.

Beck was also the author of the last lifetime portrait of US President William McKinley . During the president's visit to Buffalo, Beck made a sketch of his portrait when he gave a speech in front of a fifty thousand strong crowd near the Triumphal Bridge.

When the preliminary portrait sketches were completed, Beck left Buffalo and went to New York . At the same time, McKinley died of injuries inflicted on him, so Beck urgently continued his work to complete the portrait as soon as possible, which was named “ President McKinley speaks with the last great speech at the Pan-American Exhibition on September 5, 1901” . The portrait was hanged in the US Senate, and later became the property of the Buffalo Historical Museum ^[5] .

• The Murder of William Mckinley

• Raphael beck
• The Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society
• List of works by Raphael Beck at Meibohm Fine Arts