Head of a Woman
Flannagan, John Bernard
about 1937
Artwork Information
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Title:
Head of a Woman
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Artist:
Flannagan, John Bernard
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Artist Bio:
American, 1895–1942
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Date:
about 1937
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Medium:
Granite
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Dimensions:
11 1/4 x 10 in.
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Credit Line:
Wichita Art Museum, Roland P. Murdock Collection
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Object Number:
M37.42a,b
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Display:
Not Currently on Display
About the Artwork
Flannagan, like Zorach and de Creeft, was a direct carver who worked primarily in stone. He was attracted by the very shape of rocks as abstract forms with their own power of suggesting a specific image. In Head of a Woman, he has made maximum use of the given configuration of the stone, reshaping it as little as possible. His reference to the work suggests that, for Flannagan, the medium has almost become the content: “The best quality of the head is the particularly beautiful stone. It is a reddish sort of orange-colored granite, very coarse and sparkling texture.”1
- J.B. Flannagan, Letters of John B. Flannagan, Curt Valentin, Editor, New York, 1942, p. 59.