Flag Day

Stan Masters (1922-2005) American
"Flag Day",
Watercolor on paper, signed lower right.
Image: 15" x 20"
Frame: 27.25" x 31.75"

The quietly patriotic “Flag Day” depicts Old Glory hanging above the door of the Cat’s Meow, a watering hole in a working-class neighborhood of St. Louis. The bar sits just 2 blocks from the Anheuser-Busch Brewery, which has been a major employer and beloved corporate citizen since the 19th century. Note the Pabst Blue Ribbon signs. Their colors echo those of the flag and serve as a reminder that whether your beer comes from St. Louis or Milwaukee, we are all Americans, united under the Stars and Stripes. This theme of unity is reiterated by the small Christian Cross and Star of David framed in the mansard roof.

Framed in a period 19th century solid cherry frame. Linen mat with water-gilt liners. All materials are acid free; museum glass.
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Stan Masters (1922-2005)
In 1971, after 20 years in commercial art, Stan Masters began his career as a watercolor artist. Following a brief period of experimentation, he adopted the American Realist tradition of Winslow Homer, Edward Hopper and Andrew Wyeth. “I believe that art is, or should be, a form of communication”, he wrote in his artist’s statement. “It ought to be understandable. For that reason, I choose to work in a realistic manner. My subject matter deals with things I know about or places I’ve been”.

Humble beginnings inform his gorgeous watercolors: he grew up in a one room railroad shanty with neither water nor electricity where the tracks passed within six feet of the front porch. Thus, his subject matter depicts small town and rural America. And, of course, the railroad.

In a review of a 1978 solo exhibit a critic proclaimed, “A Stan Masters watercolor is realism at its best. What [Masters] sees is so direct and the way he sees it is so logical that his intent and his achievement are timeless and universal. We find in his paintings unsuspected technical brilliance, always purposely hidden so as not to intrude on the overall effect he wants to create.”

Despite participation in numerous competitions and exhibitions with similar rave reviews, sales throughout his career remained minimal. He died in 2005, all but forgotten. Today, Masters is finally receiving the attention he deserves, and his paintings now hang in two museums and numerous private and corporate collections.