1922
Signed “F,” l.r.
Signed, verso
Wood (with gold inlay)
23.5 x 8.5 x 1 inches (59.7 x 21.6 x 2.5 cm)
Contact gallery for price.
Provenance:
E. A. Cunningham, New York City
James Graham & Sons, New York City
Private collection
Literature:
John B. Flannagan: Sculpture, Drawings, Paintings, Woodcuts, University of Notre Dame, Indiana, October 6 to November 10, 1963: “His subject matter during this period was deeply religious. His thoughts turned toward the medieval (he called it, ‘an Assisi point of view’), his wooden forms often taking an odd Gothic distortion and expressiveness.”
Forsyth, Robert J., John B. Flannagan: His Life and Works (Ph.D. diss.), University of Minnesota, 1965, pp. 107, 149, Footnote 35: “Flannagan’s ‘A Beggar Prayer for Healing’ (1922) is composed within a Gothic arch while his ‘Oaken Chest’ (1924/25) suggests forms and iconography closely allied to medieval examples.”
Doyle, Katherine Rangoon, John B. Flannagan: A Salvation in Stone, SUNY Press, 2026, pp. 56-8, illus.: “[In The Montross Gallery’s ‘Special Exhibition: Contemporary Art’ in 1923] Flannagan showed seven works: five of them called ‘wax paintings.’ Forsyth tracked down three of the former, but only ‘A Beggar for Healing’ is extant. Contained within a Gothic arch, the imagery may tell the story of a blind man Bartimaeus, who in Flannagan’s conception, strains upward from a kneeling position in supplication. Jesus, the standing figure, is unresponsive: head thrown back, hair streaming down, and arms hanging limply. Contrary to expectation, he seems indifferent to the beggar’s suffering.”
For similar works, see: “Relief for ‘Wax Painting,'” 1922, Wood, 29 x 17 inches. (Collection Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.).
Work by John B. Flannagan (1885-1942)