Standing Male Nude (Vincent Spinelli)
John Flanagan American
Flanagan, like many American artists of the late nineteenth century, sought training in Paris, after he worked as a studio assistant for the acclaimed sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens. Enrolled at the preeminent Ecole des Beaux-Arts in July 1891, Flanagan studied in the atelier of Alexandre Falguière. Single-figure studies of nude models, known as “académies,” were a staple of life classes in which attaining expertise in rendering the human form was foundational. Flanagan’s exacting charcoal drawings, which identify his models by name, were each completed over a few class days. Preliminary outlines, erasures, handling smudges, and tacking holes offer evidence of the demanding labor that went into this well-executed anatomical study.
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