TitleThe Mall--Central Park
Artist
Gifford Reynolds Beal
(American, 1879 - 1956)
Date1913
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsUnframed: 30 × 40 in.
Framed: 42 × 52 × 2 9/16 in.
SignedSigned at lower right: "GIFFORD BEAL 13".
SubmissionNA diploma presentation, June 7, 1915
Credit LineNational Academy of Design, New York, NY
Object number61-P
Label TextGifford Reynolds Beal studied at the Art Students League under George Bridgman and Frank Vincent DuMond from 1891 to 1892, but it was his tenure as a student of William Merritt Chase, lasting from 1891 to 1900, that had the greatest impact on his work. Despite being an intrepid traveler, he is best known for his depictions of the city of New York, circus subjects, and scenes of coastal New England. He, like many artists, often spent his summers in Massachusetts or Maine. Beal maintained a long association with the National Academy, exhibiting first in 1901, and regularly thereafter until his death, receiving numerous prizes. His service to the institution included both administrative and academic roles as he served on the Academy's Council from 1934 to 1936, and taught life drawing in the Academy school.A favorite subject for late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century Impressionists and urban realist painters, New York's Central Park is a recurrent motif in Beal's work. In "The Mall--Central Park," Beal depicts the northern end of the broad pathway of the Mall, just south of the terrace and Bethesda Fountain. The painting can be understood not only as a significant work of art, but also as a revealing document of how New York's middle class spent its leisure time. It is important to note, however, that the artist took some liberties with the composition as the fountain shown in the painting's foreground seems to be Beal's own invention.
