John Flanagan (sculptor)

Washington quarter

Flanagan designed the Washington U.S. quarter dollar coin, which was issued in 1932. Flanagan's initials can be found at the base of Washington's neck. He designed both sides of the quarter, adapting the obverse profile of the United States's first president from a bust of Washington initially produced by French neoclassical sculptor Jean-Antoine Houdon in 1786. His original design for the quarter continued through 1998, after which the new "State Quarter" series resulted in the modification of Flanagan's portrait of Washington and the removal altogether of the reverse design. In 2021, after the "America the Beautiful" coin series ended, Flanagan's design for the obverse of the quarter returned for one year, with the reverse changed to Benjamin Sowards' engraving of Washington crossing the Delaware.

Medallic work

Flanagan was a prolific medallic artist. Among his more important works, he designed the official medal of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition of 1915. He later sculpted the Verdun Medal, a gift of the United States to France commemorating the World War I Battle of Verdun. The inscription on it reads, 'They Shall Not Pass', and the medal is found in the Lafayette Database of American Art in French National collections. Flanagan also created the first issue of the influential Circle of Friends of the Medallion series, 1909's Hudson-Fulton Celebration, and contributed to the successor Society of Medalists series with his Aphrodite-Swift Runners medal of 1932.

Other work

From 1885 to 1890, Flanagan was a studio assistant to Augustus St. Gaudens and worked on several large projects. A bronze portrait bust of St. Gaudens by Flanagan of 1924 exists in several copies, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Gallery of Art, New York University and elsewhere.

In 1911, he was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Associate member, and became a full Academician in 1928.

Gallery

Image: Portrait of Phoebe Apperson Hearst by John Flanagan.jpg|Portrait medal of Phoebe Apperson Hearst by John Flanagan, 1890. Image:LoC-Rotunda-Clock.jpeg|The Rotunda Clock (1896), by John Flanagan. Library of Congress Thomas Jefferson Building, Washington, D.C. Image:LoC-Rotunda-Clock-detail-Father-Time.jpeg|Detail of a winged Father Time in the Rotunda Clock. Image: Portrait of Daniel Chester French by John Flanagan, 1919.jpg|Profile of fellow American sculptor Daniel Chester French by Flanagan, 1919. Image:Verdun Medal by John Flanagan.jpg|Verdun Medal by Flanagan, c. 1920. Image:Gardner medal obverse.jpg|1896 medal honoring former Connecticut governor Morgan G. Bulkeley

References

References

1. [http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/benezit/B00064999 "FLANAGAN, John."] ''Benezit Dictionary of Artists''. [[Oxford Art Online]]. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 26 November 2014. {{subscription required
2. "U.S. Mint Announces New Quarter Dollar Reverse Design | U.S. Mint".
3. ''American Sculpture in the Metropolitan Museum of Art: A catalogue'', pp. Volume 2, Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.), [https://books.google.com/books?id=slQEFSrX3ooC&pg=PA467 google books]