Audrey Flack: Feminist Photorealist

Audrey Flack - Macarena of Miracles - 1971 - Oil on canvas - 66 x 46 in. - Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NYThe name Photorealism (also known as Hyperrealism or Super-realism) was coined in reference to those artists whose work depended heavily on photographs, which they often projected onto canvas allowing images to be replicated with precision and accuracy. The exactness was often aided further by the use of an airbrush, which was originally designed to retouch photographs. The movement came about within the same period and context as Conceptual art, Pop Art, and Minimalism and expressed a strong interest in realism in art, over that of idealism and abstraction. Among several male practitioners of Photorealism there is an interest in themes of machinery and objects of industry such as trucks, motorcycles, cars, and even gum ball machines, whereas Audrey Flack, the sole female practitioner, infuses her works with greater emotionality and the transience of life. Ultimately, the Photorealists were successful in attracting a wide audience, but they are often overlooked by art historians as an important avant garde style.

Audrey Flack (born 1931) is an American painter, printmaker, and sculptor, who is widely regarded for her innovative contributions to the Photorealist and feminist movements of the late twentieth century. While her early work included abstract motifs, Flack achieved international recognition for her incredibly detailed paintings of still-life compositions and her monumental sculptures of mythical and divine female figures.