Audrey Flack was born in1931 in Brighton Beach, New York. She died at the age of 93 on June 28, this year. Her parents were Jewish immigrants from Poland. They owned a garment factory in New York City. Always interested in art, Flack attended the High School of Music and Art and Copper Union, both in New York. She received a BFA (1952) from Yale University. She was recruited by Josef Albers to study drawing and anatomy at the Art Students League in New York. She also studied art history at New York University of Fine Arts.
Flack came to public notice with “Kennedy Motorcade” (1964) (oil) (37.5”x 42”). Photorealism became the new and popular style of painting in the 1960s. Photorealists used photographs as the subject of their art, a return to realism after the wave of Abstract Expressionism. Flack was the only woman in the movement: “I broke the unwritten code of acceptable subject matter. Photorealists painted cars, motorcycles, and empty street scenes. Cool, unemotional, and banal were the terms used to describe the movement. My work, however, was humanist, emotional, and filled with referential symbolic imagery.”
Flack discovered in the 1970s two new methods to create her work: color slide projection and application of paint in layers with an airbrush. “Leonardo’s Lady” (1974) (oil and acrylic) (6’2’’x6’8’’) is an example of her new subject matter and style. Her continued interest in art history is evident in her choice of subject matter. The da Vinci portrait (1490-95) is a depiction of Lucrezia Crivelli, a married lady, who was lady-in-waiting to the Duchess of Milan and one of the Duke of Milan’s many mistresses. Flack includes a small statue of cupid and the reflection of the statue in the mirror of the compact. A pink rose, a Renaissance ribbon, and a very ripe pear also are included, the pear often a symbol of fruitfulness and femininity. Flack paintedd items from the modern world: perfume bottles, nail polish, jewelry, and a glass of wine. The man’s pocket watch is a reminder that time is passing. Flack’s still life paintings are complex works full of symbols.
Hilton Kramer (1928-2012), a well-known art critic who wrote for several New York papers and magazines, disliked Photorealism and criticized Flack’s work. He was very upset that Flack’s “Lonardo’s Lady,” by the only woman in Photorealism, was also the first to be purchased (1976) by the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.
“World War II (Vanitas)” (1978) (oil over acrylic) (8’x8’) is an example of Flack’s wide range of subject matter. In the 16th Century, artists in Leiden, Holland, started a new type of still life that became known as a Vanitas, the Latin word meaning vanity. The style specifically included elements such as skulls, hourglasses, and burning candles that signified time was running out and death was at hand. Included with these elements concerning the passage of time were luxury elements like books, jewelry, and flowers. Flack also increased the size of her paintings. This one is 8’x8’, and everything in it is larger than life.
A Jew, Flack was conscious of the treatment of Jews during World War II. The background image in the painting is Margaret Bourke-White’s photograph “The Living Dead at Buchenwald” (1945). Bourke-White was the first photographer to enter the camp after it was liberated. Flack includes a bright blue butterfly signifying the release of the soul. In contrast, a rotting pear is placed on a plate with three luscious pastries.
A string of pearls is draped down the left side of the composition. At the top right, a clock displays the time: ten minutes before twelve. A red candle is burning. A star of David is next to it. Under a fresh red rose is a page with the Hasidic text that ends with “Do not fear, dear child, God is with you. Even in the Nethermost Pit one can try to come closer to God. The word ‘bad’ never came to their lips. Disasters did not frighten them. You can take everything from me—the pillow from under my head, my house—but you cannot take God from my heart.” When the still life was set up for the photoshoot, the lit candle began to drip on the page. Flack included it when she realized it reminded her of the bloodshed during the Holocaust.
Flack married in 1964. They had two daughters, one of whom was autistic. Her husband was abusive, and she divorced him. The 1980s brought a happy marriage and a major change in the direction of her art. “Civitas” (1988) (patinated and gilded bronze) (East Glass flame) (4’8’’x10’7’’) was commissioned for the garden of the New Orleans Museum of Art. Civitas is the Latin word for citizenship. Flack’s large sculptural works are female figures, drawn from myth, and given feminist themes. The goddesses are mature and strong. Flack described them as “real and yet idealized…the goddesses in everywoman.” “Civitas” stands on a globe set on a marble pedestal. She holds a crystal flame above her head. She is a mixture of a human and a mythological figure, a bit like Wonder Woman.
Although Flack was commissioned to create many sculptures, she also continued making still life paintings. “A Brush with Destiny” (2012) (acrylic, mixed media) (40”x40”) is from her last series of paintings that she called Post-Pop Baroque. Similar to her sculptures, these paintings were about empowered woman. “A Brush with Destiny” is a self-portrait of Flack at a younger age. She is lavishly dressed as Queen Elizabeth I, with a ruff collar, pearl crown, and necklace. Her heavy brocade gown is dyed scarlet and black, costly dyes at the time. The dress is decorated with embroidery and jewels. At her left is a copy of Elizabeth Vigee-Lebrun self-portrait (1790), in which she holds her palette and brush as she paints. Vigee-Lebrun painted her portrait for the collection of the Uffizi Museum in Florence. At Flack’s right is the image from one of the few photographs taken of the painter Jackson Pollock at work. Flack holds a green leafy vine and a red rose. Flack’s destiny was to span the old world and the new world of art.
“When I’m painting now, everything is at my fingertips. It’s magical. They say before you die, you see everything from your life. In my 92 years, a lot pops up.” (Audrey Flack, Vogue, Spring 2024)
Beverly Hall Smith was a professor of art history for 40 years. Since retiring to Chestertown with her husband Kurt in 2014, she has taught art history classes at WC-ALL and the Institute of Adult Learning, Centreville. An artist, she sometimes exhibits work at River Arts. She also paints sets for the Garfield Theater in Chestertown.
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