Trailblazing Artist Audrey Flack Presents Free Lecture at the Quick
Artist Audrey Flack has been called a visionary, a pioneer, "amazing," and "one-of-a-kind."
Her photorealist paintings launched her into the forefront of a major art movement. Flack was the first photorealist painter whose work was purchased by the Museum of Modern Art for its permanent collection. A nationally recognized painter and sculptor, her art also graces the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and many other major museums.
On Monday, March 4, 2013, at 7:30 p.m., Audrey Flack will speak about her exceptional career when she delivers Ƭapp’s Samuel and Bettie Roberts Memorial Lecture in Jewish Art. Free and open to the public, her talk, “Audrey Flack: Issues: Images & Icons,” will take place in the Quick Center for the Arts.
“Art makes life more livable,” Ms. Flack said. “I believe in the power of art, it touches the soul.” After the lecture, she will sign copies of her book, “On Painting” (published by Abrams).
“With a two-fisted punch, Flack burst onto the world stage as one of America's first generation feminists, ready to go ‘mano a mano’ with the top male contenders in a bruising art scene,” said Philip Eliasoph, Ph.D., professor of Art History at Fairfield. “Today in her early 80s, she remains at the top of her game. She's now in the 15th round, and as far as I am concerned, as one of my earliest art heroes - she's still the champ!”
Art historians and critics are equal in their praise of Flack, who lives and works in New York City and Long Island.
Peter Morrin, former director, J.B. Speed Art Museum, noted: “The enduring main currents of her art lie more in subject matter than in style, more in defiance of canons than adherence to them.”
The New York Times observed: “Breaking the rules has been Ms. Flack's major rule.”
“World War II (Vanitas – see photo)” is the work she will focus on during the lecture. "I’ll be talking about how the painting was reviled when it was first shown, how it seemed to shock people, and how criticized I was, personally, for making it,” shared Flack. “Approximately ten years later, the painting was included in an exhibit at the Jewish Museum and praised as a masterpiece.”
She will also discuss her series of Madonnas (Macarenas) and a watercolor that is one of her earliest works. “The watercolor [Rabbis Praying] was done when I was very young, early high school days, when I went to Temple with my father on Yom Kippur,” Flack recalled. “I had to do it from memory, as sketching or photography was not allowed.”
The event is made possible through an endowment from Lawrence Roberts and Suzanne Novik, the son and daughter of Samuel and Bettie Roberts. It is presented by the Bennett Center for Judaic Studies. The Westport Arts Center is a Community Friend of the evening. To reserve a seat, call 203-254-4000, ext. 2066.
