Audrey Flack (American, b. 1931) Self Portrait: The Memory, 1958 Oil on canvas Gift of the Artist 1993.40
Painted after her father’s death, Audrey Flack’s Self-Portrait:
The Memory creates a cathartic space to address mortality
and emotion. Flack stands before her canvas, observing the
viewer as they watch her. Her body and the surrounding space
are conveyed through abstract lines, but her face is rendered
with purposeful detail. As both artist and subject, Flack’s
image is assertive and self-aware. Two abstract faces hover in
the background, perhaps as a visual reference to the titular
memory. Flack’s career began as a teenager during the
Abstract Expressionist movement of the 1940s, and as a
pioneer of 1970s Photorealism. Though Modern art may seem
traditionally cold and detached, Flack’s art is deeply personal
and emotionally intense.