“War Weary, USS San Diego Returns to Home Port” (1967) is the name of this 20- by 26-inch watercolor by Arthur Beaumont. His son, Geoffrey Campbell Beaumont, will discuss the late artist’s work during a Zoom talk presented by the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum.
SANTA BARBARA — The Santa Barbara Maritime Museum will present a Zoom webinar to showcase the late Arthur Beaumont’s paintings of ships.
At 7 p.m. April 15, Geoffrey Campbell Beaumont will offer a virtual program about his father’s life and work as the U.S. Navy’s official “Artist of the Fleet.” As part of the presentation, Mr. Beaumont will share personal stories about his father’s paintings and provide viewers with his insight into an exhibit at the museum.
Born in England in 1890, Arthur Beaumont came to the U.S. in 1908 to study art at Berkeley. After studying with artists in the U.S. and Europe and teaching art and watercolor painting, Arthur Beaumont, in 1933, received a commission as a lieutenant in the Navy, and he began painting naval vessels in various settings, states of preparedness, and in battle.
Following the end of World War II, Arthur Beaumont continued to travel with and paint for the U.S. Navy on missions in the Pacific, to China and Japan. Mr. Beaumont also painted landscapes in Alaska and Antarctica.
His exhibit, which includes 53 paintings, is on display through April 21 at the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum.
While Santa Barbara County remains in the purple tier, the museum is closed to the public. But Dr. Henning Ansorg, the county public health officer, told the News-Press that he expects the county will move into the red tier March 23. That would mean the museum would be allowed to reopen, beginning on March 24.
— Gerry Fall
