Flags
- This article is about the painting at the Birmingham Museum of Art. For other uses see Flag (disambiguation).
"Flags" (1918) is an impressionist oil painting by Theodore Earl Butler that was donated to the Collection of the Art Fund, Inc. at the Birmingham Museum of Art in 2005 by Mr & Mrs Crawford Taylor, Jr.
The Ohio-born Butler (1860–1936) befriended Claude Monet while studying under the master in France and remained in Giverny for several years. He married Monet's favorite model, his step-daughter Suzanne Hoschedé. After she died, he married her younger sister Marthe.
He returned to New York in 1913 to execute a mural series for a private home and to accompany a pair of his paintings to an exhibition at the Armory Show. The war in Europe prevented his return to France. In October 1918 Butler was inspired by a display of the flags of the Allied forces along Fifth Avenue and produced this work, which shows the crowded movement of the waving flags over the busy street with the spires of St Patrick's Cathedral in the distance.
The 42 1/4" tall by 27 1/4" wide canvas remained in his estate in Giverny and passed to his grandson, Jean-Marie Toulgouat. From him it was sold to Texan Joe Leonard, Jr, who sold it, in turn, to the Maxwell Galleries in San Francisco, California. Jock Elliot, Jr purchased it there, but later sold it to the Owen Gallery in New York, New York. The Taylors purchased the painting there on June 20, 1999 and donated it to the museum six years later.
In May 2010 posters of Butler's "Flags" were given to 60 newly-naturalized American citizens who took the oath of citizenship in a ceremony at the Museum presided over by Judge Sharon Blackburn.
References
- "Birmingham Museum of Art Becomes Host for Naturalization Ceremonies" (May 19, 2010) Birmingham Museum of Art press release
External link
- "Flags" at artsbma.org