Wally Hedrick, 75; Painter Was Part of S.F.’s Beat Generation

Wally Hedrick, 75, an iconoclastic artist who was a leading member of San Francisco’s Beat Generation, died Dec. 24 of congestive heart failure at his home in Sonoma County.

Hedrick was a prolific painter whose works are a permanent part of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Despite his renown, Hedrick tended to shun the art world and rarely made appearances at his own exhibitions.

In 1954, he co-founded the Six Gallery, which became a meeting place for artists and writers, including Allen Ginsberg, who read his poem “Howl” for the first time there.

Born in Pasadena, Hedrick was drafted into the Army in 1951 and served in Korea. After returning home, he painted an emblematic work in which he superimposed the word “peace” over an American flag.

He later protested the Vietnam War by canceling classes at the San Francisco Art Institute, where he taught. “For two semesters, he put up a big black sign saying, ‘Classes canceled until the end of the war,’ ” said his son, Max La Riviere-Hedrick.