Studio: international art (89.1925)

MR. JOHN FLANAGAN, PORTRAIT PAINTER

" LIFE." BY JOHN
FLANAGAN

MR. JOHN FLANAGAN, PORTRAIT
PAINTER. 0 a a a a

MR. JOHN FLANAGAN is a portrait
painter of striking ability. His art,
at its best has a sort of finality, the monu-
mental character of the thing done once
and for all, and at the same time an
elusive imperfection, or rather suggestion
of qualities which paint alone is unable
to convey. His portrait of an Old Lady
is an example. It is difficult to conceive
of the old lady set in any other way upon
the canvas, as a decorative arrangement of
dignified shapes and rich, restrained colour.
But the picture has an interest over and
above this, which draws one back per-
petually to look at it, and still is never
quite fathomable. By this one means
the spirit, personality, presence, ethos, call
it what you will, which when all is said
and done, is the ultimate criterion of a
portrait. One may talk endlessly in the
abstract terms of sesthetic theory, but the
hard fact about a portrait remains that it
has got to be like somebody, that is like
the essential or spiritual being, or in one
simple word—alive. No analysis of
technique can explain this. It is real
and at the same time intangible, the
product of an instinct and an intense
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sympathy on the part of the artist. Mr.
Flanagan does really possess this ability
to record the real person, so that one can
look into his portraits without tiring time
after time, and ponder on the human
mystery he has created with the deepest
satisfaction. 0 a a a 0

He is exacting in his standards, and
the reverence and humility which he
demands is a rare and refreshing thing
when one thinks of the shallow tricks and
formula; which too often go to the making
of a successful portraitist. No line is too
sensitive to please him, no quality of
colour sufficiently nimble and active in
its pursuit of the fleeting and delicate
surface of the human face. He paints a
tramp as if in the presence of a god, and
finds beauty in every mark of life's chisel
upon the living man. He combines this
with science, for he is occupied, too, with
the poise and the masses of nature. The
contour of the bony structure of the cheek
fascinates him as a solid, and the brilliance
and delicacy of his paint, as is to be seen
in his portrait of Frank Moran, the boxer,
is laid always upon a strong and accurate
framework. 00000

His interests are wide. He can go back
into the past and find himself in harmony

" THE ART-CRITIC." BY
JOHN FLANAGAN