Transient Beauty: Photographs by Audrey 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 17 th 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 Music and Art High School then graduated from Audrey Flack, Photo from WikiArt.org 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 amoorefield@taubmanmuseum.org 540.204.4103 Or Kimberly C. Piland, Exhibition Associate kpiland@taubmanmuseum.org 540.204.4126 Taubman Museum of Art 110 Salem Ave, SE, Roanoke, VA 24011 540.342.5760 www.taubmanmuseum.org