A. Raphael Beck (1858-1947)
 

 


The artist A. Raphael Beck was born on November 16, 1858 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Named after the famous painter,  Beck was the oldest of the eight children of Augustus Beck, an accomplished artist who designed the bas relief at the foot of the Washington Monument. When Beck was 20, after studying with his father, he traveled to Europe for two years to study in Munich with the famous landscape artist, Paul Webber, and then at the Academie Julian in Paris.

After his return to the States, Beck began his first major commissioned work, a series of murals for the capitol building in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Around this time he also settled in Lockport, New York and established a studio in Buffalo. 

Beck produced a wide variety of artworks including stain glass windows, life size masks, etchings, oils, watercolors, and large murals, including mural of the opening of the Erie Canal and a portrait of General Lafayette among others. But he is probably best known for his work related to the Pan-American Exposition. 

 

The logo of two women in the shape of North and South America, holding hands through Central America came to be the most recognizable symbol of the Pan-Am. Beck's design was chosen as the official logo by the Pan-American Exposition Company from over 400 entries and copyright in 1899, appearing on a variety of souvenirs ranging from paperweights, pins, and postcards to decks of cards, toothpick holders, and clocks. The use of the logo was so prevalent that it was on "everything that didn't move and some things that did." Some "unofficial" variations of the logo also appeared on souvenirs, produced by vendors who wanted to cash in on the familiarity of the Beck logo. 

Beck also painted what would become President McKinley's last portrait. During McKinley's visit to Buffalo, Beck arranged to observe McKinley during his tour of the Exposition, including the President's speech to a crowd of 50,000 near the Triumphal Bridge. With the preliminary sketches for the portrait completed, Beck left Buffalo for a business trip to New York City. Beck was in New York when McKinley died and he went to work immediately to complete the portrait entitled "President McKinley Delivering His Last Great Speech at the Pan-American Exposition, Sept. 5, 1901." The portrait was hung in the U.S. Senate and 1901 and later became property of the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society.

Beck maintained his studio in Buffalo for thirty years. He went on to design the logo for the 1905 Lewis and Clark Exposition in Portland, Oregon. Beck died in 1947 and is buried at the Lockport Glenwood Cemetery. 

 

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