Transient Beauty:
Photographs
by Audrey Flack
Flack
Audrey Flack, QUEEN, 1983, Dye transfer photograph matted: 29 1/8 x 27 5/8 in. (74 x 70.2cm), 1996.209
TRAVELING EXHIBITION PROSPECTUS
Transient Beauty:
Photographs by Audrey Flack
Organized by the Taubman Museum of Art, this exhibition is culled from the
museum’s permanent collection and offers a first time look at a series of dye transfer
photographs created in 1983 by New York-based artist Audrey Flack (American, born 1931).
A pioneer of the Photorealism art movement, Flack created these works, often as studies for
her large scale paintings, with almost microscopic detail while capturing the optical realism
one would view if looking through a camera lens.
Flack used the dye transfer printing process, which is composed with color plates,
each one holding areas of cyan, magenta, or yellow respectively. The four plates, printed one
after the other, produce a full-color image. The process gave her the ability to instill both
delicate subtleties and deep, rich nuances of color in her work. Along with a master printer,
she could finely control the saturation of each color to create her lush compositions. Her
acutely focused interest on surface detail is tempered by her symbolic subject matter
depicted in the eleven works on view. Flack explored the notion of vanitas- – a meditation on
the transient nature of life – and psychological portraiture by creating elaborate still life
tableaus with props that she or her family owned as well as collected from antique shops and
other sources. According to Flack, some of the photographs served as studies for her
monumentally scaled paintings such as Queen which she created as a tender homage to her
mother with several clues to discover, including an oval locket holding their portraits and a
keychain inscribed with the letter “F.” Other works were autonomous, such as Time to Save,
where the artist cleverly inserts a clock bank playing on the pun “to save and time.” Her use
of her own personal effects creates an unusual self-portrait in Rolls Royce Lady which portrays
her own jewelry, which Flack said she created for “pure visual pleasure.” Unique to her art
making, Flack photographed her compositions at a tilted angle, creating a very shallow
picture plane while forcing her assemblages up close in the foreground. In totality, through
her process and imagery, Audrey Flack’s highly sensitive photographs appeal to our
subconscious mind by depicting complex yet universal themes of family, wealth, desire, lust,
hunger, and mortality.
Audrey Flack’s paintings, photographs and sculptures have received international
attention throughout her career. In addition to the Taubman Museum of Art, her work is in
the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum,
the Museum of Modern Art, and the Whitney Museum of American Art. Among Flack’s
public commissions is her Monumental Gateway to the city of Rock Hill, South Carolina,
consisting of four twenty-foot high bronze figures on granite pedestals and her study for one
of the bronze figures is in the Taubman Museum’s collection titled, Head of Civitas.
Audrey Flack
Artist Biography
Audrey Flack was born in New York in 1931 to a
middle class Jewish family. Flack focused early in
her career on large-scale still life paintings that
were heavily influenced by 17th century Dutch
vanitas – but unlike the Dutch paintings, Flack
wanted the viewer to observe the work as
though it was through a contemporary camera
lens.
In addition to being one of the first photorealist
painters, Flack experimented with the idea of
bringing feminine identities under scrutiny. In the
1970s, Flack focused intensely on her wellknown series of still-lifes that explored the
woman’s role in society. Loading her complex yet
conscientious arrangements with makeup,
candles, jewelry, flowers and fruit, Flack set out
to address symbolic representations often
accompanying the stereotypes of the feminine
embodiment.
As a teenager in New York, Flack attended the
Audrey Flack, Photo from WikiArt.org
Music and Art High School then graduated from
Cooper Union in 1951. She holds a graduate
degree and honorary doctorate from Cooper Union. Flack also received a Bachelor of Fine
Arts degree from Yale University. She was awarded the St. Gaudens Medal from Cooper
Union, and the honorary Albert Dome professorship from Bridgeport University. Flack is a
visiting professor at The Pratt Institute in New York, New York University and The School of
Visual Arts. She is also an honorary professor at George Washington University. Audrey
Flack lives and works in New York City and East Hampton.
Traveling Exhibition Specifics
Traveling Exhibition Specifics:
Includes 11 Framed Photographs
Space Requirements: Framed artwork: 76 linear wall ft. Gallery size: 38 square ft.
depending on the layout used
Rental Fee: $ 8,000 Rental Fee
Shipping Costs: The Taubman Museum will make all arrangements. Exhibiting venue
pays pro-rated one-way shipping costs
Insurance: To be carried by venue
Supporting materials: Includes Exhibition didactics and gallery guides
Availability: January 2017 – January 2020 in eight week displays
Illustrated
Checklist
Audrey Flack, LEONARDO'S LADY, 1983
Dye transfer photograph matted: 28 1/2 x 26 13/16 in.
(72.4 x68.1 cm)
1996.207
Audrey Flack, TIME TO SAVE, 1983
Dye transfer photograph matted: 30 x 27 9/16 in. (76.2 x
70 cm)
1996.208
Audrey Flack, QUEEN, 1983
Dye transfer photograph matted: 29 1/8 x 27 5/8 in. (74 x
70.2cm)
1996.209
Audrey Flack, WORLD WAR II, 1983
Dye transfer photograph matted: 29 1/4 x 27 1/2 in. (74.3
x 69.9 cm)
1996.210
Audrey Flack, WHEEL OF FORTUNE, 1983
Dye transfer photograph matted: 29 x 27 5/8 in. (73.7 x
70.2 cm)
Audrey Flack, ROLLS ROYCE LADY, 1983
Dye transfer photograph matted: 28 x 31 1/8 in. (71.1 x
79.1 cm)
1996.212
Audrey Flack, SKULL AND ROSES, 1983
Dye transfer photograph matted: 24 5/8 x 31 3/8 in.
(62.5 x 79.7 cm)
1996.213
Audrey Flack, ROYAL FLUSH, 1983
Dye transfer photograph matted: 24 13/16 x 30 13/16
in. (63 x 78.3 cm)
1996.214
Audrey Flack, IN MY LIFE, 1983
Dye transfer photograph matted: 31 11/16 x 26 in. (80.5 x
66 cm)
1996.215
Audrey Flack, ROMAN BEAUTIES, 1983
Dye transfer photograph matted: 24 13/16 x 31 1/8 in.
(63 x 79.1 cm)
1996.216
Audrey Flack, GREEK MUSE, 1983
Dye transfer photograph matted: 29 x 27 13/16 in. (73.7 x
70.6 cm)
1996.217
Transient Beauty:
Photographs by Audrey
Flack
TRAVELING EXHIBITION PROSPECTUS
For more information, please contact:
Amy G. Moorefield, Deputy Director of Exhibitions and Collections
[email protected]
540.204.4103
Or
Kimberly C. Piland, Exhibition Associate
[email protected]
540.204.4126
Taubman Museum of Art
110 Salem Ave, SE, Roanoke, VA 24011
540.342.5760 | www.taubmanmuseum.org