Jack Beal

[5] Beal was one of several New York-based painters of the 1960s, including Philip Pearlstein and Alfred Leslie, who rejected Abstract Expressionism and embraced an approach to figurative art that has been termed "New Realism.

"[6] Beal "mined a rich vein of representation, which has usually demonstrated a fine sense of observation, an inventive painterliness, an acute responsiveness to shape and pattern, the ability to create dynamic compositional structures, and always the willingness to take artistic risks rather than languish in a single mode of picture making.

With their optimistic portrayal of the history of labor in the United States and the theme of the dignity of work, Hilton Kramer declared that "Jack Beal established himself as the most important Social Realist to have emerged in American painting since the 1930s.

"[9] Recalling Beal's sense of humor, Sondra Freckelton commented that the dynamic poses of workers, which were inspired by the Old Masters and included an electrician installing cables while leaning backward on a ladder, was certainly "against OSHA regulations.

"[10] In 1986, the MTA commissioned Beal to produce a mosaic mural for the Times Square-42nd Street Subway Station titled The Return of Spring (2001).