Big D

 

Dennis Ray Beall

  1929 - 2024 (biography)

1965  

color collagraph 

23 1/2 x 17 1/2" platemark 

pencil, lower right 

5 of 12  

titled, lc; dated, lr 

 

wove Rives 

published 

 

DENB144 

SOLD

Oklahoma born printmaker Dennis Beall moved from Abstract Expressionism to a more hard edge, formal design. He started using collagraphy and embossing, adding a political edge. In 1965 Beall began a series of works using the imagery of the shield as a symbol of federal and military power, a PopArt form that utelized basic color and three dimensionality. Working toward a show in Dallas, Texas and, with a commission for a collograph from the C-Troup Gallery in Dallas, he created this image which was his reaction to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. This print caused Beall's work to be removed from the exhibition in Dallas by the local authorities. An exhibition catalog noted "The artist's fascination with the effects of embossing led to the desire to achieve even greater raised and relief effects.....the collagraph, where the design is carved more easily into a soft glue and sand mixture that is built up on the top of the plate. The plate is then inked and run through the press usiing regular intaglio proceedures.