Dennis BEALL

Dennis Ray Beall, printmaker, educator, curator, and administrator, was born on 13 March 1929 in Chickasha, Oklahoma to Roy and Lois Beall. The family remained in Chickasha and Dennis graduated from Chickasha High School in 1947. After serving for three years in the U.S. Navy, which included attending Electronics Materiel School on Treasure Island off San Francisco, Beall returned to Oklahoma in 1950 to attend Oklahoma City University. Relocating to California in 1953, he enrolled at San Francisco State University. Punctuating his studies with trips to Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa, he received his B.A. and M.A. degrees in 1958.

During his course of study at San Francisco State University, Beall produced a body of abstract expressionist color lithographs, which were created from single stones and transparent color washes. His first solo exhibition in 1957 at the East/West Gallery in San Francisco featured these lithographs. However, in 1958, Beall turned to intaglio printmaking with the assistance of John Ihle.

Beall was registrar at the Oakland Museum of California briefly in 1958 before becoming a curator at the Achenbach Foundation for the Graphic Arts in San Francisco. He held that position until 1965 when he began his teaching career at San Francisco State University where he taught printmaking. He was an assistant professor of art between 1965 and 1969, associate professor between 1969 and 1976, and professor of art from 1976 until 1992. He was named Professor Emeritus in 1992.

Beall’s work has been featured in over twenty-five solo exhibitions and has been awarded an equal number of honors. Shown in over 200 exhibitions internationally, his work is held in the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Library of Congress, the Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts, the New York Museum of Modern Art, the Oakland Museum of California, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Cleveland Museum of Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Worcester Art Museum, as well as in numerous college and university collections.

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