Jack Beal: Frogs and Toads, Lithograph, Signed/N, "Conspiracy: The Artist as Witness", 1971

JACK BEAL, American b. 1931

FROGS AND TOADS

A one-color lithograph proofed by hand and pulled by machine from a zinc plate on Arches buff paper at the Shorewood Bank Street Atelier, New York, 18 x 24 inches, Hand signed in pencil by Jack Beal

Stamped, hand numbered 23 from the edition of 150 Stamped on reverse: COPYRIGHT © 1971 BY JACK BEAL, bears distinctive blind stamp of publisher (shown) Publisher: David Godine, Center for Constitutional Rights, Washington, D.C.

In fine condition.

Jack Beal's "Frogs and Toads" is a classic example of protest art from the early 1970s - the most influential and desirable era. This historic graphic was created for the legendary portfolio "CONSPIRACY: the Artist as Witness", to raise money for the legal defense of the Chicago 8 - a group of anti-Vietnam War activists indicted by President Nixon's Attorney General John Mitchell for conspiring to riot during the 1968 Democratic National Convention. (1968 was also the year Bobby Kennedy was killed and American casualties in Vietnam exceeded 30,000.) The eight demonstrators included Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, David Dellinger, Tom Hayden, Rennie Davis, John Froines, Lee Weiner, and Bobby Seale. (The eighth activist, Bobby Seale, was severed from the case and sentenced to four years for contempt after being handcuffed, shackled to a chair and gagged.) Although Abbie Hoffman would later joke that these radicals couldn't even agree on lunch, the jury convicted them of conspiracy, with one juror proclaiming the demonstrators "should have been shot down by the police." All of the convictions were ultimately overturned by the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals.

This lithograph has superb provenance: it comes directly from the original Portfolio: "Conspiracy The Artist as Witness" # 23/150, which also featured works by Alexander Calder, Nancy Spero and Leon Golub, Romare Bearden Sol Lewitt, Robert Morris, Claes Oldenburg, Larry Poons, Peter Saul, Raphael Soyer and Frank Stella - as well as this one by Jack Beal. It was originally housed in an elegant cloth case, accompanied by a colophon page. This is the first time since 1971 that this important work has been removed from the original portfolio case for sale. It is becoming increasingly scarce because so many from this edition are in the permanent collections of major museums and institutions worldwide.

Jack Beal wrote a special message about this work on the Portfolio's colophon page. It says, "In 1956, shortly after Sondra and I moved to New York, two friends were arrested and jailed for protesting air-raid drills. From them and their friends came our education. This work is dedicated to them and their families. "In Memory of Patricia McClure Daw and AL Uhrie" - This print was made for their children.

Jack Beal was born in Virginia. He attended the William and Mary COllege of Williamsburg, Virginia, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and the University of Chicago. His work has been exhibited widely and he is represented in many private and public collections worldwide.


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