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Beaumont, Arthur Edwin (Beaumont-Crabbe), CDR.
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Contact Info
Home Town Thorpe-St. Andrew near Norwich, England
Last Address Orange, CA
Date of Passing Jan 23, 1978
Location of Interment Fairhaven Memorial Park - Santa Ana, California
Wall/Plot Coordinates AL 116 1
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Arthur Beaumont-Crabbe
aka ARTHUR BEAUMONT
(born Arthur Edwin, Eadwine, or Edwaine, Crabbe)
"Artist Laureate" of the United States Navy 1932-1978
His birth was registered 2nd quarter in 1890 at Blofield, NFK, ENG. Arthur Edwin Crabbe was born on 25 March 1890 at Thorpe St Andrew, NFK, ENG. He was the son of Moses Samuel Crabbe and Sarah Jane Belderson. Arthur Edwin Crabbe emigrated in 1908 from SAS, CAN. As of 1909, Arthur Edwin Crabbe lived at Oakland, CA, USA. He married Zaida May Douver on 18 November 1912. On 1915 his name was legally changed to Arthur Beaumont-Crabbe. On 1919 his name was legally changed to Arthur Beaumont. Arthur Edwin Crabbe married Dorothy Dean on 4 April 1919 at Los Angeles, CA, USA. Arthur Edwin Crabbe died on 23 January 1978 at age 87.
Given a commission in the Naval Reserves, Beaumont did serve with the Navy from August 17, 1933 to December 27, 1934; later, however, it was the cultivation of his friendships with officers of the fleet that enabled him to continue in his avowed profession.
Although Arthur Beaumont was not an American citizen by birth, he felt deep love and respect for his adopted country. His classical training as an artist and his fascination with the sea and the vessels which sail upon her led Beaumont into an association with the U.S. Navy which lasted nearly five decades. The relationship began in the early 1930s, when he was commissioned to paint formal portraits of several Naval Officers, including Vice Admiral William D. Leahy. Leahy suggested that Beaumont paint studies of the Fleet for the Navy. At once Beaumont recognized the opportunity to record history and to create fine works of art simultaneously, as Henry Reuterdahl (1871-1925) had done for the Navy during World War I. Thus his art acquired purpose and meaning, allowing him to express creatively the patriotism evoked by his adopted land.
In an early article entitled "Artist Discovers Idealism, Rhythm and Color in U.S. Fleet" Beaumont discussed his choice of subject matter:
"I am trying to create the impression, among other things, that the Navy exists for a definite purpose. It is a protective and not an aggressive force. It is manned by men of whose character and performance this nation should be proud....There is a side of the Navy that the public knows little about. It has beauty and finesse in an artistic and cultural sense. In picturing every phase of our Naval activity, I am trying to emphasize that side of our gray wardens of the deep...I am accenting the beautiful and the good in our Navy, which I really believe is its predominating quality."
The War Years: 1939-1945
The war years mark Beaumont's most prolific period. He painted ships and battle scenes as an Artist Correspondent; he raised funds for war relief; he created posters and led fund-raising for the construction of the USS Los Angeles. He also completed an eight-painting patriotic series of ships for National Geographic Magazine. His work for the Navy continued as always. In those pre television days, Beau's skills were sought by the Los Angeles Evening Herald and Express. They commissioned him as a journalist-illustrator to depict European battle scenes for papers and to paint black and white portraits of the American Fleet. The battle illustrations showed American readers what the fighting looked like as conceived by the artist. Tearing news of Naval battles off the teletype, Beau, with his copy of "Jane's Fighting Ships" before him, would paint the encounter as he imagined it. The painting, suitably captioned, then appeared under a headline in the evening paper. One example is The Raiders...Deutschland and Emden, which showed the sinking of a British freighter by Nazi ships.
America's isolationist stance disappointed Beau. During his studies in England in 1925, he had seen the catastrophic toll the First World War had taken. He had been devastated to learn that all of his boyhood friends had been killed. Therefore, Beau took a great interest in helping the war effort. Teaming with the film actor Montagu Love, he organized the Artists and Sculptors Benefit, an auction of works by fifty prominent Southern California artists which funded war relief.
National Geographic Magazine commissioned Beaumont to do a series of eight paintings for the September 1941 issue. The series, "Ships That Guard Our Ocean Ramparts," was designed to garner public support for the war effort. After their debut in the periodical, the paintings were widely reproduced in newspapers and exhibited throughout the country...their significance heightened, no doubt, by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor just three months later. Many of the ships Beau had painted during the previous ten years were destroyed or badly damaged in the attack, including the USS Arizona, the USS Oklahoma, the USS Utah, the USS Pennsylvania, the USS California and the USS Maryland.
Beau was on the East Coast that December on another assignment for National Geographic Magazine (sponsored by the War Department) to portray Army maneuvers. Being away from Dot and the children made him very nervous. Two days after Pearl Harbor, he wrote to Dot:
"A war is on. Don't get panicky. Los Angeles is a huge city and if anything does happen, it will be the oil tanks, airfields, and the shipping they will be after. Get your little car into good condition, however, stock it with emergency food and blankets...have it always full of gas and oil....Keep all this to yourself, don't talk about what you are going to do...but for God's sake DO IT, and be prepared."
It is extraordinary to think that Beau traveled to the Antarctic at seventy years of age, producing paintings of historical relevance and dramatic beauty. In 1964, recognizing his uncompromising patriotism, his devotion to work, and his thirty years of service as a Navy artist, Beau was granted their most prestigious civilian award, the Navy Meritorious Public Service Citation. Beau wrote to the Secretary of the Navy, the Honorable Paul H. Nitze, thanking him. "Please accept my sincere and heartfelt thanks for this great honor, which I treasure above all other commendations. The work accomplished over the years in painting and recording for history the activities of the Navy I love so well, I feel has been a great privilege and a distinct pleasure," Beau continued his work for the Navy until the end of his life. In 1966 he traveled to Vietnam to record the Navy's small craft operations against the Viet Cong junks, but his active participation with the Navy slowed considerably. More often now he and Dot traveled, visiting Navy friends and other acquaintances through out the world. Beau never did retire. A backlog of commissions kept him painting five days a week. On the stairwell of their Laguna Hills home, a woven mat from an English pub with the words "Take Courage" gave Beau inspiration to climb the stairs every day to his studio to paint.
The Latter Years: 1962-1978
In 1964 he began painting a series of Revolutionary War sailing ships which occupied him for the next ten years. It is some of his best work, reminiscent of the first ship portraits he executed in the early 1930s. Like his contemporary, British artist Montague Dawson, Beaumont depicted traditional maritime subjects including the USS Constellation and the USS Constitution Beau also executed a commission of twenty-four ship portraits for the National Steel Company between 1970 and 1973. Beau was honored with a retrospective exhibition in 1976 at the Laguna Beach Museum of Art, just two years before he passed away The show of 127 works chronicling the years 1931 to 1976 was well received. An excerpt from the museum brochure reads "Today, as we honor this Artist Laureate of the Fleet, Mr. Beaumont continues to research with acute perception and produce with unwavering quality historically significant commissions," In the winter of his eighty-seventh year, Beau's strength waned. Hospitalized after a heart attack, he enjoyed the visits of relatives and his many friends. Often people requested autographs, but soon he was unable to sign his name. Realizing he could no longer paint, he lost his will to live. On January 23, 1978, Beau passed away, survived by his wife, four children, thirteen grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren.
Learning of Beau's death, his good friend, Admiral Arleigh Burke, wrote to Dot:
Great talent is given to but few men, and Beau gained the respect and admiration of his peers by his great paintings. But he also gained even more ardent admiration from those of us who were not expert in his difficult field, but who, as sailors realized that Beau put the spirit of the sea into his paintings as it is felt and cannot be expressed by those who go down to the sea in ships. Beau loved the sea and his work showed it. He loved the Navy as few men do, and Navy people in generations to come will be grateful to him for his inspiring paintings....He was beloved for his personal characteristics... .He was a man of great integrity coupled with unusual understanding. He was a great man. He will be sorely missed.
Other Comments:
There is some confusion concerning Beaumont's official activities with the Navy. His transcript of service, dated 15 March 1944, indicates his resignation as a Lieutenant in the Naval Reserve was accepted on 27 December 1934. Yet various newspaper and magazine articles published during the war identify him as a Lieutenant Commander or a Commander. John Barnett, Curator of the Navy Combat Art Collection in Washington, D.C., stated there are no records to indicate that Beaumont was an "Official Combat Artist" Also, Beaumont himself, in a letter to an "Admiral Benson" dated December 12, 1957 (Beaumont archives), did not list himself as having been a combat artist but rather an "Artist-Correspondent" with clearances for various assignments with the Navy.
1942 Commissioned by National Geographic Magazine and sponsored by the War Department to paint a series of sixteen paintings of the Army on maneuvers, The series appears in the November issue of National Geographic. Engaged by Paramount Studios to make scenes for the film Wake Island Beau is given rank as a Senior Combat Artist for the U.S. Navy as a Lieutenant Commander. In 1944 Beau is given War Correspondent status with Navy rank.
In 1964, recognizing his uncompromising patriotism, his devotion to work, and his thirty years of service as a Navy artist, Beau was granted their most prestigious civilian award, the Navy Meritorious Public Service Citation for valuable contributions to the Navy, by the Secretary of the Navy, Paul Nitze.
1966 Travels to Vietnam to sketch the Navy's small craft operations against Viet Cong junks.
1967 Participates in operation "Blue Coral" on board the USS Chicago.
1970 Commissioned by the National Steel and Shipbuilding Company to paint 17 LST ships and 7 AFS ships, which he completes over the following three years.
1972 Given "Honorary Aviator" award by the Third Marine Aircraft Wing of the Marine Corps Air Station.
He continued to paint for the Navy until his death in 1978.
Chronology of the Life of Arthur Beaumont
Date
Not Specified
Last Updated: May 30, 2011
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Chronology of the Life of Arthur Beaumont
1890 Born Arthur Edwin Crabbe on March 25, in Thorpe-St. Andrew near Norwich, England, to Moses Samuel Crabbe and Sarah Jane Belderson Crabbe, the fourth of five children.
1894-1898 Schooled at home by a governess/tutor until nine years of to age. Artistically influenced at an early age by his mother, a novice artist. Sketches fishing schooners in harbor near Yarmouth, England, at age four.
1899-1908 Leaves home to attend boarding school at the Holt School. to Aspire to be an architect, but finds the mathematical requirements too stringent. Leaves school in the spring of 1908 with a baccalaureate degree.
1908 In the summertime, immigrates to Saskatchewan, Canada, to work on the Crosse ranch. Works on the ranch for almost a year and is fond of the cowboy lifestyle. Sketches all aspects of ranch life which he later depicts in his early landscape paintings.
1909 Lives with his brother Will and his wife May in Oakland, California. Commutes to work in San Francisco by ferry boat.
1910 Enrolls as a special student at the San Francisco Institute of Art, where he studies for one year.
1911 Takes a summer ranch job in Klamath Falls, Oregon, where he contracts typhoid fever. Is bedridden in Oregon for three to four months, then, miraculously, recovers.
1912-1914 Commences work on the Miller and Lux Ranch in the San to Joaquin Valley. Advances to assistant superintendent of the ranch land division of the Eastside Ranch, where he remains until he is forced to leave due to severe injuries incurred when involved in the apprehension and subsequent conviction of cattle rustlers.
1915 Begins to use the name Arthur Beaumont-Crabbe. Works a construction job at the Los Angeles Bible Institute where he meets his future bride, Dorothy Dean, daughter of Harry and Eva Dean.
1917 Opens first commercial art studio and pursues art as full- time career.
1919 Marries Dorthey Dean in Los Angeles on April 4th, and they Move in with her parents at 1809 Oak St. in Los Angeles.
1921 Beau enrolls in classes at the Chouinard School of Art, while pursuing career as a commercial artist. Studies with Stanton MacDonald-Wright.
1922 Birth of his first child, Phyllis Jacqueline Beaumont.
1924 Birth of second child, Dean Edwaine Beaumont.
1925 Accepts scholarship from Mrs. Chouinard to study in Europe. Attends the Slade School of Art at the University of London while residing at the chic Savage club. Receives invitation to view the Royal Collection at Windsor Castle. Studies under Sir William Russell Flint, Sir Frank Brangwyn and Augustus John, all Royal Academicians.
1926 Moves to Paris where he works with Hunt Diederich. He enrolls at the Academie Julian, studying under Ples Page and Jean-Paul Laurens. Sketches in evenings at Academie de la Grand Chaumitre and Academie Colarossi. Travels to Brussels, Holland, and Spain to see art collections before his return to the U.S.
1927 Teaches classes at Chouinard while continuing freelance commercial art work.
1931 Exhibits first paintings in Pales Verdes and Long Beach, including landscapes and seascapes. Is commissioned to paint several important military portraits, thus establishing his first ties to the U.S. Navy.
1932 Commissioned by the women of the Episcopa diocese of Los Angeles to paint a mural for St. Thomas church in Point Hope, Alaska. Also paints first of three portraits of Vice Admiral William D. Leahy, who is his first patron and who convinces Beau to paint for the Navy. An exhibit is shown at the Beaumont studio at 2506 West Eighth street in Los Angeles which is later shown in San Diego. Beau is also involved with the Olympic Art Festival.
1933 The exhibit which originated in the Beaumont studio is shown in May at the Villa Riviera in Long Beach, then at the Biltmore Salon. The Los Angeles Art Association sponsors this show, entitled "Our Glorious Navy," which travels for more than a year under the auspices of the American Federation of the Arts. Receives commission as Lieutenant in U.S. Naval Reserve, on August 17.
1934 Third child is born, Barbara Elaine Beaumont. Embarks on the USS Louisville bound for the Panama Canal. Transfers to the USS Portland on which he travels to Norfolk, Virginia. Attends Presidential Review of the Fleet in NewYork where he is personally commended by the President for his painting of the USS Indianapolis and the Amberjack, which had been given to him. Completes reserve training during the summer on board USS West Virginia. Resigns Navy reserve commission in December.
1935 Opens studio in the Pacific Coast Club in Long Beach. Teaches classes in studio and continues to paint Navy ships. Works on movie Mutiny on the Bounty painting backdrops for the set. Elected President of the Long Beach Art Association1935-1936 Selected as one of the United State's 50 best watercolor artists.
1936 Painting Gypsy CavnivaI wins first prize for watercolor at the 27th Annual Exhibition, California Art Club. Reelected President of the Long Beach Art Association 1936-1937.
1937 Fourth child is born, Geoffrey Campbell Beaumont. Painting entitled The Wharf wins first prize for watercolor at the 28th Annual Exhibition, California Art Club. Beau is hit by a car outside the Pacific Coast Club in Long Beach and seriously injured.
1938 Family takes up residence at 816 South Saint Andrews Place. Beau is chosen chairman of the 1939 Golden Gate Exposition jury with fellow jury members Jean Mannheim, Katherine Leighton and Millard Sheets. Takes two prizes in the Exposition and also wins the purchase prize in the annual Clearwater Junior High School competition. Begins work as an illustrator/journalist for the Long Beach Press Telegram and the Los Angeles Evening Herald and Express which he continues throughout the war years. Serves as chairman of the Aquarelle Painters, is vice-president of the California Art Club and is on the Board of Governors of the Academy of Western Painters.
1940 Teams with movie actor, Montagu Love, in organizing the Artists and Sculptors Benefit for British and American war relief. Continues in his capacity as War Correspondent, which includes journalistic and artistic work.
1941 Commissioned by National Geographic Magazine to paint a series of works that were reproduced in the September issue called "Ships That Guard Our Ocean Ramparts" Boards the USS Iowa for a cruise to the West Indies, Antilles and the Virgin Islands. Sketches the world's largest battleship and surreptitiously views a voodoo ceremony in Jamaica. Transfers to the Cruiser USS Los Angeles, bound for Guantanamo Bay, Cuba for a shakedown cruise. In November, embarks on the aircraft carrier USS Midway for shakedown cruise once again to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Contracts "cat fever" and is transferred to a hospital ashore for several weeks. While recovering, hitchhikes by air to Oakland on Admiral Nimitz's plane, then returns to Los Angeles.
1942 Commissioned by National Geographic Magazine and sponsored by the War Department to paint a series of sixteen paintings of the Army on maneuvers, The series appears in the November issue of National Geographic. Engaged by Paramount Studios to make scenes for the film Wake Island Beau is given rank as a Senior Combat Artist for the U.S. Navy as a Lieutenant Commander.
1943 July, serves on the Citizens Committee for the $40,000,000 fundraiser to build the USS Los Angeles. Makes billboard posters and other commercial posters for the drive. Signs hundreds of prints of the cruiser which are given to every person who purchases an extra war bond. A letter from the citizens committee congratulates Beau for personally raising $1,500,000.
1944 Completes mural of Pacific and Atlantic war scenes for the Officers Club at Allen Center, Long Beach. Sam Hyde Harris (1889-1977) works with Beau on the project. Makes film "How I Paint a Watercolor," which is accessioned by the UC. Extension Division Film Library. Beau is given War Correspondent status with Navy rank.
1946 In July is selected as an official artist of "Operation Crossroads" the atom bomb tests in Bikini Atoll. While on board the USS Fal1 River, records the effects of the Able and Baker blasts, making 180 sketches and many watercolor paintings of the event. The paintings subsequently are exhibited at the National Gallery in Washington, D.C. and then taken on tour throughout the country under the auspices of Joint Task Force One.
1947 Takes trip to Japan, China, Guam, and other far Eastern countries for two months on the USS St Paul. Views secret Japanese combat paintings in Tokyo. Returns to Los Angeles on board the USS Helena. Depicts scenes from China and Japan in his paintings for the rest of his career, especially Chinese junks on the Yangtse River. In May, unveils the oil painting commissioned for Los Angeles City Hall of the cruiser USS Los Angeles.
1948 Exhibits many paintings made on trip to the Far East and others at a retrospective exhibit at the Pales Verdes Art Gallery. Paintings of the Navy and of Bikini are shown at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
1949 Teaches classes to more than one hundred students throughout Southern California at the Glendale Art Institute, the San Pedro Art Association, the Lorne D. Middough studio and the B-Q Gallery in Long Beach. Also holds outdoor field classes. Paints a series of works of the California Missions.
1950-1951 Incurs injuries to his right "painting" arm while teaching a to class outdoors. His hand is caught in a collapsible chair, incapacitating him for some time. Takes a trip to Canada with Dot and their grandson, John Seabern. While dining in a restaurant at Emerald Lake, Beau is hit on the shoulder with an ornamental brass tray which fell from a ledge, and exacerbates his earlier injury.
1952 The law firm of Spray, Gould & Bowers of Los Angeles commissions Beau to paint a Dickens Mural for their offices. Due to his injuries, he is forced to paint part of the mural with his left hand. Portraits of his daughter Barbara, his son Geoffrey, his grandson John Seabern, and one of himself appear in the mural. During the summer, Dot, Beau and their daughter, Barbara, take a trip to Mexico. In Mexico City, Beau meets with the artist Diego Rivera and views his works in progress.
1953 Beau is hired by Universal-International Studios to paint six watercolors depicting scenes from the movie The Cruel Sea.
1954 Donates painting to Mrs. Eisenhower depicting The Birth of the Atomic Navy. She subsequently gives the painting of the USS Nautilus to the submarines' commander.
1956 Paints a mural for the California Medical Association. Also paints a mural for the Jonathan Club in Los Angeles, depicting Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo at San Diego Bay in 1542.
1957 Takes top-of-the-world cruises to the Arctic with the U.S. Navy's Task Group 572 West, acting as staff artist. Based at Point Barrow Alaska on the USS Eldorado, he flies and sails more than 30,000 miles over ice and tundra to sketch and paint the Arctic region. Makes the first paintings of famous DEW (Distant Early Warning) line sites, and is the first artist and one of the few persons to complete the Northwest Passage by sea, being with the Navy when the first navigable Pacific to Atlantic passage was found. Lectures on the Eldorado and also holds an exhibit of Arctic paintings. Paintings from these explorations are later exhibited throughout the US.
1958 Painting of USS Eldorado appears on the cover of "United States Naval Institute Proceedings" magazine in the May issue and the Canadian icebreaker Labrador appears on the November cover. Visits the Seventh Fleet in the Orient. Travels to Auckland, New Zealand, on board the USS Bremerton.
1959 Beau is granted permission to go on the Navy's operation Deep Freeze 60 as the staff artist for US. Naval Support Force Antarctica and Task Force 43. He is granted permission and leaves in November for the Antarctic, where he is attached to the USS Glacier.
1960 Produces 350 sketches and 25 paintings while on assignment exploring the Bellinghausen Sea and the Eights Coast, returning in March. In November he leaves on a second trip to Antarctica. Proceeds to the South Pole, making 25 sketches and 3 paintings at the Pole Station and Geographic Pole. Falls through a snow bridge into an ice crevasse, but luckily, is rescued by a New Zealand Navy captain.
1961 Returns in January from the Antarctic and paintings are senton tour throughout the United States. En route home, cruises to the Trust Islands, Hawaii, Wake Island, Eniwetok, and Midway. Awarded a life membership to the Santa Monica Bay Council of the Navy League.
1963 Chosen one of seventy-five citizens to have attained national recognition for outstanding contributions to society by the city of Long Beach. Takes trip around the world with Dot.
1964 Awarded the Navy Meritorious Public Service Citation for valuable contributions to the Navy, by the Secretary of the Navy, Paul Nitze. Paints first in a series of Revolutionary War sailing ships since the 1930s.
1966 Travels to Vietnam to sketch the Navy's small craft operations against Viet Cong junks. Takes a trip to Mexico with Dot.
1967 Participates in operation "Blue Coral" on board the USS Chicago. The Beaumont's take up residence at Leisure World in Laguna Hills. Cruise to the West Indies for pleasure.
1968 Takes cruise on the USS Yorktown for two weeks to sketch the ship. Appointed to the Los Angeles Mayor's Community Advisory Board.
1969 The Beaumont's travel to Europe.
1970 Commissioned by the National Steel and Shipbuilding Company to paint 17 LST ships and 7 AFS ships, which he completes over the following three years.
1972 Given "Honorary Aviator" award by the Third Marine Aircraft Wing of the Marine Corps Air Station.
1976 Retrospective exhibition at the Laguna Beach Museum of Art showing 127 paintings.