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You can't get very far into the works of Russell Flint without encountering his most widely admired specialty: erotic nudes. Late in life he authored several books that provided a narrative excuse for nude illustrations among them the feebly humorous Models of Propriety (1951) or Minxes Admonished (1955). Russell Flint's nudes, still admired by connoisseurs of comic book art, are famously "well knit" as one critic put it: leggy, lithe, with flowing hair, exquisite bone structure and glowing skin. To add spice, the models are frequently cast as gypsy or Spanish girls who have stripped native costume to the waist, the better to bathe, doze in the sun, or taunt passersby with their charms. |
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Although many Georgian and Victorian watercolor artists learned to transcend their training in etching and illustration to achieve artistic goals, toward the end of the 19th century mass media began to regain the upper hand: quick execution and effortless technique became ends in themselves, and l'art pour l'art did not pay nearly as well as commissions in advertising, journalism, and book publishing. Russell Flint became affluent and famous by contributing to this trade, and in the days when news images were captured by illustrators rather than photographers, he learned the craft of working briskly. But after 1912 he began to spend more time painting his favorite locales and landscape subjects, including Gareloch (Scotland), the Alps, and Spain. Passing Gleams, Gareloch (1925, 46x65cm) is a portrait of his homeland that presents Russell Flint at his best. |
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Russell Flint's paintings are well worth knowing for the tricks of brush and nuances of wash technique they can teach by example. But there is in many of the works a sense of virtuosity running on its own momentum, a lackluster quality that makes the paintings unexpectedly lose their charm on repeated viewing. Mistral (1927, 51x72cm) is striking at first glance: an animated tangle of slim tree limbs and frothy leaves contorted in the famous winter wind of south France.
There is now an "official web site" for Sir William Russell Flint, and other gallery sites that sell prints of his exotic paintings. The best available introduction is the formal biographical and artistic study Sir William Russell Flint by Ralph Lewis & Keith Gardner, now available in paperback (David & Charles, 2004). |
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