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Audrey Flack
(1931- )

by B. F.

Picture by B.F., done in the style of Audrey Flack


Education/Background

Audrey Flack is one of the most important and influential artists of the twentieth century. In the words of the author Thalia Gouma-Peterson, "Not content to merely copy the world as we see it, Audrey Flack has used her obvious technical skill in the service of an art, replete with symbols, which comments on the transitory nature of life and favors the search for spiritual harmony." Flack was born in New York City in 1931. As a child in the big city of New York, little Audrey Flack wanted to be an artist. Later in life, she was noted of saying, "Art is a powerful force in this world, it is the visual representation of what we think and what we feel, and how we think and how we feel."

Even though her parents didn't share the same fervor for Audrey pursuing a career in art, she attended the High School of Music and Art, where she won the St. Gaudens medal. After graduating college at the top of her class at The Cooper Union, she proceeded to study art in the fine arts program at Yale. It was from Yale that she received her B.F.A. in 1952. She also acquired an Honorary Doctorate from The Cooper Union in 1977. After Yale, Flack decided to move back to New York and study anatomy at the Art Students League.

Her decision to study came from her desire to paint realistically. According to Flack, "I always wanted to draw realistically. For me art is a continuous discovery into reality, an exploration of visual data which has been going on for centuries, each artist contributing to the next generation's advancement. I wanted to go a step further and extend the boundaries. I also believe people have a deep need to understand their world and that art clarifies reality for them." Audrey Flack's art doesn't just stop on the canvas; she is not only a painter, but also a sculptor and a photographer. The quality of her work, however, has not been compromised by her creating art in more than one medium. She has won world-wide recognition for all her art work. Another thing she incorporates into all her works is the strength of women. Flack has painted and sculpted many powerful images of women.


Flack, the Photorealist

The first venue she entered was a movement known as Photorealism. This was the first time artists had imitated the colors and slick surface of photography with paint and canvas. In the 1960's Flack created compositions based on photographs taken from documentary news, focusing on public figures, such as Roosevelt, Kennedy and Hitler. One of her most significant works of this nature was entitled Kennedy Motorcade, which captures the moments right before President Kennedy was assassinated.

Although, it wasn't until 1969-70 that she produced her first "photorealist" painting, with the name of The Farb Family Portrait. The single aspect that set this painting apart from all her others was the fact that she took a slide of her subject, projected it onto the canvas, and painted over the projected image. Just after she started using her newly found technique, she expanded on it even more. She started using an airbrush which enabled her to create an immaculate surface of near-photographic clarity.

Making up her own rules in this new and evolving form of art known as Photorealism, Audrey Flack often filled her paintings with personal memorabilia, and also related her paintings to her experiences as a woman. For example, her series of "Vanitas" paintings from the 1970's are full of rich fabrics, luscious lipsticks, bright jewelry, and family or celebrity photographs. In the early 1980's, Flack's preference of the vanity paintings changed rather to depicting Goddesses.


Flack, the Sculptor

In the 1980's, Flack moved from painting to sculpting. Flack says, "Making sculpture attracted me because of its substantiality. Our society is fragmented, empty, and falling apart, so I wanted to make solid objects, things that people could literally hold on to, things that wouldn't fly away or disintegrate." Her first sculpture came in 1981 in the form of a cherub clasping a shield over his heart. The sculpture, in fact, could fit in the palm of your hand.

Next, in her sculpting career, she decided to do a series of much larger images embodying female strength. These sculptures ranged from a black medicine woman, or a sun goddess, to mythical goddesses such as Athena and Diana. These works led to her creating her series of "Civitas" commissioned in 1988. These Civitas are four, thirteen feet tall, bronze goddesses that guard the entrance to a city called Rock Hill, South Carolina.

All of Flack's art has heavy symbolic meaning. In all of her art, Flack strives (in her own words) to make, "something universal, something everyone can relate to. In still lifes, an apple, an orange, and a flower are archtypes. But in traditional portraiture, the single face of one individual is depicted. In my sculptures, I want to create faces that are universal: A face or figure can stand for a belief system, just as one rose can stand for all roses." An example of symbolism in Flack's sculptures would be in a sculpture of an Egyptian Rocket Goddess. The Egyptian Rocket Goddess has snakes wrapped around her arms which is definitely a sign of female power and fertility.


Museums that hold Flack's art, and Where Flack has taught

Flack has created countless art works, many of which are in galleries, solo exhibitions, and museums such as:

  • The Whitney Museum of American Art
  • The Museum of Modern Art
  • The Guggenheim Museum
  • The San Francisco Museum of Fine Art
  • The National Museum of Women in the Arts
  • The Smithsonian Institution
  • The National Museum of Art in Canberra, Australia

Flack has taught at:

  • The Pratt Institute in New York
  • New York University
  • The School of Visual Arts in New York
Flack has also written two books.


Conclusion

Audrey Flack was revolutionary in the fact that she took the new movement of Photorealism and made it hers. She didn't just copy photographs, she added something to them. She gave them an emotional and symbolic depth to them. She also was an American pioneer of sculpting the heroic female figure. Flack once said, "Art's message cuts through time and space and lasts for centuries." Audrey Flack's art influences art today and will continue to do so until the end of time.

Works Cited