Gifford Beal, (American, 1879 to 1956)
Gifford Beal, a lifetime New Yorker, was influenced as a student both by Winslow Homer, who encouraged his artistic aspirations, and by William Merritt Chase, his teacher both in New York and at Shinnecock, Long Island. Because of his Art Student League associations, however, Beal was soon drawn to the circle of urban realists led by Robert Henri and John Sloan. It was their “Ashcan School” aesthetic that inspired Beal’s greatest early achievements, such as Circus Day, Elephants, circa 1911,(Columbus, Ohio, Museum of Art) and The Puff of Smoke, 1912, (Art Institute of Chicago).
Information courtesy of Shannon’s Fine Arts Auctioneers and Bruce Chambers, Ph.D..