The Vanitas Still-Life Paintings of Audrey Flack, 1976–78

Audrey Flack, portrait from the catalogue The Gray Border Series, Louis K. Meisel Gallery, 1976

Gallery 98 has obtained a collection of vintage art ephemera connected to Audrey Flack, a leading photorealist painter whose work dates from the movement’s earliest years. Now in her 90s, Flack has the distinction of having participated in every major photorealist exhibition and being the first photorealist to have a work purchased by the Museum of Modern Art.

Spotlighted here are three vintage, hand-signed, offset prints featuring Flack’s much acclaimed vanitas still-lifes, a series inspired by the symbolic still-lifes of 17th century Flemish painters. The works refer to the related concept of memento mori, the Latin phrase for “remember you must die.” Flack updates the tradition by combining traditional symbols like the skull and burning candle with images related to contemporary life. Wheel of Fortune alludes to Flack’s own mortality; Marilyn is a reminder of the early death of Marilyn Monroe; and World War 2 makes reference to the Holocaust.

These hand-signed prints (we have two of each) come from the Louis Meisel Gallery that represented Flack in the 1970s and 80s, and produced the prints in conjunction with her 1978 solo exhibition.  There is more Flack ephemera on our special Audrey Flack artist page, or you may also want to explore Gallery 98’s special section on Photorealism, as well as, our Women Artists page.
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