Richard (Dick) Beckman was a lifelong Burlingtonian, born in 1915. He was an attorney in Burlington, practicing with his father Stephen Beckman. His son David joined him in practice in 1976.

Dick claimed there wasn’t a day of his life that he didn’t remember being able to draw. When he was 10, his parents sent him to study oil painting with Ella Hawksworth, who ran an art supply store on the corner of Fourth and Jefferson Streets. While a law student at the University of Iowa, he was privileged to be a student in an art class taught by Grant Wood.

By the time of Burlington’s sesquicentennial in 1983, Dick was able to lend the Art Guild 60 watercolors for their show at the Art for Living Center.

At that show, Dick said, “In celebrating our city’s sesquicentennial we are honoring its past and looking forward to its future. I cannot accurately portray that future, but in about 100 paintings I have had fun telling the happiness and sorrows, the love and joy, which my hometown has provided me these past 68 years.”

Some of his paintings illustrate Wentworth Folkin’s statement, “Find a train, and you are likely to find a boy somewhere close by.” This also applies to steamboats, airplanes, circuses and fairs, but machines and buildings do not give a city a heart – that takes people. In Dick’s words, “Burlington has always had a warm heart, so you may find in these paintings lots of people, such as Carl Pryor, Betty Cowles, Rosemary, Rev. Andres Freden, Herman Heil, Sister Jeannette and more.”

Historical accuracy was important to Dick and he often researched his scenes for over a year before picking up a brush. The actual painting was always done in one night. He said that the second night ruined them – with watercolors he said, “ you have to know when to quit.”

Dick viewed his painting as a hobby; he never accepted any money for his work. Before he died he painted more than 130 paintings. Most were done in watercolors, but he also used oils, pencil, pastels and Easter Egg dye. Being a good Eagle Scout, he even tried his hand at woodcarving. He was proud to have drawn the Boy Scout Camp Eastman’s 1941 summer camp patch.

Beckman Law Offices is located in the original Citizens Water Company building, built in 1914. It features a terra cotta facade and the original front office where Burlingtonians once paid their water bills.

301 Jefferson Street
Burlington, Iowa 52601
319-754-8069

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