Arthur Beaumont (1890-1978) Born: Norwich, England; Studied: Mark Hopkins Institute of Art (San Francisco), Chouinard Art Institute (Los Angeles), Los Angeles School of Art, Slade School of Art (London), Academie Julian (Paris); Member: New York Water Color Club, American Watercolor Society, California Water Color Society. Arthur Beaumont grew up in England then immigrated to America via Canada when he was nineteen years old. He studied art with Stanton MacDonald-Wright in Los Angeles, William Russell Flint and Frank Brangwyn in London and Jean-Paul Laurens in Paris. In the late 1920s, he taught at the Chouinard Art Institute and operated a freelance commercial art business. In the 1930s, he became a Lieutenant in the United States Naval Reserve and began producing the first of many watercolors depicting battle ships and other naval subjects.

During World War II, he was a war artist, documenting naval battles. A series of these works were published in National Geographic magazine. After the war he continued producing watercolors of naval activities in China, Japan, Guam, Vietnam and the Antarctic. Although he painted depictions of landscape and figurative subjects and worked as a commissioned portrait artist, Beaumont is best known for his watercolors of ships and harbor scenes.

Throughout his career, he exhibited in California on a regular basis. His works were very popular, especially in the 1940s and 1950s, with articles about his works appearing in many newspapers and magazines. In 1989, a book titled Arthur Beaumont, Naval Artist, which documented his life exhibition at the Laguna Art Museum.

Biographical information:

Interview with Dorothy Beaumont, 1982

Arthur Beaumont, Naval Artist

Biography courtesy of California Watercolors 1850-1970,

©2002 Hillcrest Press, Inc.

Courtesy of CaliforniaWatercolor.com