Rosemarie Beck (Rosemarie Beck Foundation)
Rosemarie Beck (1923 - 2003) emerged in the mid-50s as a figurative painter; she was a beloved teacher and mentor, and a gifted artist.
MessageCollection: Antigone (1987-1994)
Around 441 BC, the Greek writer Sophocles wrote a play about Antigone, part of a group of plays that concern the tragic figure of Oedipus. The narrative concerns the highly moral Antigone, daughter/sister of Oedipus, who insists upon her right to bury her dead brother, Polynices, in defiance of the orders of King Creon of Thebes. When she violates the king's command, she is arrested and brought to trial, and then put to death. In anguished rebellion, Creon’s son, Haemon - who was in love with Antigone - kills himself in protest of his father’s judgment. Antigone is vindicated posthumously for having followed divine "right" in defiance of human law.
Centuries later, the French writer Jean Anouilh wrote a play about Antigone during WWII, which was censored by the Nazis because of its implicit critique of the Vichy government. The character of Antigone is heroic and unshakably moral, refusing to compromise on what she believes to be right, and she gives her life in defense of her beliefs.
Beck's husband, Robert Phelps, died towards the end of 1989, so her work on Antigone coincided with her early widowhood; it was a means of confronting great grief. Beck was also still actively teaching as well as painting. She retired from Queens College, where she had been Professor of Fine Art for many years, and then began teaching at the New York Studio School, in lower Manhattan, very near her studio (which is now the RBF Studio space).
Despite the the story of Antigone being essentially tragic, it is also about doing the right thing even when it is dangerous or difficult. At its core is a stubborn woman holding her ground in the face of male criticism; Antigone is in defiance of the status quo and she is punished, but also vindicated for validating Truth. It makes sense that Beck was drawn to this theme. Ultimately, of course, it was the characters and their movements that attracted her; she was always on the lookout for “pretexts” that would work well as paintings.
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