Reynolds Beal (1866-1951)

He was born at The Bronx in New York City. He was the eldest brother of the artist Gifford Beal and an uncle of Marjorie Acker who with her husband Duncan Phillips co-founded the Phillips Collection at Washington D.C. He studied Naval Architecture at Cornell University and from 1900 studied art under Henry Ward Ranger. He is recognized as an important Impressionist (and Modernist) and is sometimes referred to as "the American Van Gogh". He lived with his brothers at Echo Lawn (where he helped design the Italian Garden) and later with Gifford at Rockport, Massachusetts. He belonged to many national societies and helped found the Society of Independent Artists and the New Society of Artists which consisted of fifty of the most important American painters of the day. He is particularly known for his waterfront scenes at Provincetown, Key West etc., & (like his brother) circus and carnival scenes.