House of Mercury VI

One of Beck's larger early works, House of Mercury VI dates from within a few years of her revolutionary shift away from Abstraction in her paintings. The 1960s was the decade when Beck established herself irrevocably as a figurative painter, drawing initially for subject matter from Astrology. Beck shared a passion for this subject with her writer husband, Robert Phelps, and she enjoyed drawing up charts - or "horrorscopes" as she called them - for friends and colleagues, especially during her occasional residencies at Yaddo, the famous the artists' colony in Saratoga Springs.
Set against a bold, patterned backdrop, we see a scattering of maps, sunglasses, a pencil, and a globe of the earth, all elements relating to planning a trip. The theme of travel relates directly to the painting's title, as Mercury is the astrological ruler of this activity. Dark contrasting green shadows against the orange bring to our notice a creased and unfolded map of Italy, the place where Beck longed to go above all others, to study the art of the Great Masters whom she venerated. The color palette is bold and decisive, and her strong desire to visit the sun-swept land of Titian, Veronese, and Botticelli is clear. Only the cigarette, resting on a colorless ashtray in the bottom right corner, and the equivocal Two of Spades card, representing the struggle of making a difficult choice, betray Beck's inner anxieties at the prospect of traveling alone far from home.