Audrey Flack
1931–2024

Audrey Lenora Flack (May 30, 1931 – June 28, 2024) was an American visual artist. Her work pioneered the art genre of photorealism and encompasses painting, printmaking, sculpture, and photography.

Flack had numerous academic degrees, including both a graduate and an honorary doctoral degree from Cooper Union in New York City. Additionally she had a bachelor's degree in Fine Arts from Yale University and attended New York University Institute of Fine Arts where she studied art history. In May 2015, Flack received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from Clark University, where she gave a commencement address.

Flack's work is displayed in several major museums, including the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. Flack's photorealistic paintings were the first such paintings to be purchased for the Museum of Modern Art's permanent collection, and her legacy as a photorealist lives on to influence many American and International artists today. J. B. Speed Art Museum in Louisville, Kentucky, organized a retrospective of her work, and Flack's pioneering efforts into the world of photorealism popularized the genre to the extent that it remains today. Flack was an Honorary Vice President of the National Association of Women Artists.

An accomplished banjo player, Flack was lead vocalist for Audrey Flack and the History of Art Band who released a 2012 album. Hitherto, the textbook Janson's History of Art did not mention a female artist; Flack was one of three living women added after Janson's death in the History of Art's 3rd edition in 1986.