Audrey Flack

Audrey Flack (1931- )• During her time art college Flack worked in the realm of

Abstract Expressionism in the New York art scene, but as a female she had to act like ‘one of the boys’ to be taken seriously as an artist.

• Following her time at art college she became interested in Realism and gravitate to working with artists of similar thinking; she was one of the pioneers of Photorealism.

• In 1965 she painted her first portrait from a photograph, which lead to her isolation from the popular art community because at the time it was acceptable to paint a work that was from a photograph, but was unheard of to create a work that looked like a photograph.

• In 1966 Flack became the first Photorealist to get into the collection of the Museum of Modern Art. This cause a stir in the art community because many questioned the validity of this art form seen as a weakened form of Pop Art.

Abstract Expressionist works:

Audrey Flack Abstract Expressionist Self-Portrait (1952) Oil on canvas

Audrey Flack Flashback (1949-50) Oil on canvas

Audrey Flack Kennedy Motorcade (1964) Oil on canvas

Kennedy Motorcade• This was her first portrait by Audrey Flack to be derived

from a colour photograph.• Caused a bit of a disturbance amongst contemporary

audiences because this scene was the moment right before JFK was assassinated.

• Represents a new subject matter for Flack the inclusion of metaphoric figures. 

• The man in the front seat has his hand in his coat jacket, which to Flack seemed sinister. A shadow falls across JFK, which Flack included to suggest the ominous future. We fill in the tragic end to this scene: the rest is just the context.

• “I also like the almost arrogance seen in the faces of the subjects of Kennedy Motorcade. Kennedy exudes a pride which is even more striking when one imagines how the day depicted will end.”

Audrey Flack Farb Family Portrait (1969-70) Oil on cavas

Farb Family Portrait• A commissioned work, it was the first time that

Flack had taken a photograph, which later became a slide, from which Flack could project onto a canvas.

• This process eliminated the part of working which made her impatient: the drawing. Instead she was able to go straight to painting, and eventually eliminate the need for line at all, giving her a more direct contact with the canvas.

• Each individual is treated individually and has their our part to play in the narrative being told in the work.

Audrey Flack Buddha (1975) Oil over acrylic on wet sanded canvas

Audrey Flack Marilyn (Vanitas) (1977) Oil over acrylic on canvas

Flack’s Vanitas’ • Flack vanitas paintings are part of a long

tradition of still life portraits dating back to 16th and 17th c. Northern Europe Vanitas literally means "emptiness" and loosely translated corresponds to the meaninglessness of earthly life and the transient nature of vanity.

• It is a type of symbolic still life painting where each element in the painting has meaning.

• The works tell an important story and draws in the viewer to consider what each symbol means.

Audrey Flack World War II (Vanitas) (1976-77) Oil over acrylic on canvas

World War II• Flack’s goal was to tell an allegory of war, and to show the existence of pure

evil as well as beautiful humanity. There is a contrast in showing beauty and war existing simultaneously.

• The symbols within the work are as follows:– Silver dish: symbols of contemporary life. – Pastries: juxtaposed with starving prisoners to make people think, but

actually raised guilt: we are eating when the prisoners did not. It is a contrast of those who have and those who have not. 

– Red drape : to look fiery.  – Watch: a few minutes before 12, the final hour. also, to symbolize the

healing power of time. – Blue chalice: the cup of sorrows.  – Black and white prisoners: signifying time past, despair, memory. – Butterfly: liberation of the soul, and Flack also read that hundreds of

butterflies took home in Auschwitz following the Holocaust – Candle: began “bleeding” as they were photographing the image as the

wax melted onto the photograph – Rainbow border: all that is in the afterlife, outside. – Charred music: music of the spheres, melody flowing through time. – Pear: perhaps symbolizing loneliness and isolation.

Treck Jan Jansz Vanitas Still Life1648 Oil on oak panel

Jansz’s work caused contemporary viewers to reflect on the inevitability of mortality and the consequent foolishness of all human ambition

Audrey Flack Crayola (1972-73) Oil over acrylic on canvas

Audrey Flack Rich Art (1972-3) Oil over

acrylic on canvas