John R. Flanagan
American (1895-1964)
John Richard Flanagan was born in Sydney, Australia. At the age of thirteen Flanagan left school to help support his family as an assistant to a lithographer producing advertising copy for newspapers. At sixteen he enrolled in evening art classes at St. Joseph’s College, Hunter Hill, where he studied with Antonio Datillo-Rubbo. In 1913, he attended evening art classes at the Royal Art Society of New South Wales. A year later he became a newspaper cartoonist at The Sydney Bulletin, where the art critic wrote, “John Flanagan’s flair with the pen seems almost as if it would rival Norman Lindsay’s.” In 1916 he immigrated to the United States and settled in New York City. He found work as a newspaper artist. In 1921 he illustrated “The Story of the Other Wise Man” by Henry van Dyke for Harper & Brothers. He went on to illustrate popular novels by famous authors, such as Rudyard Kipling and Arthur Canon Doyle. During the 1920s he produced black & white pen-and-ink and scratch-board story illustrations for several publications. He illustrated “Dr. Fu Manchu” by Sax Rohmer for Collier’s Magazine and “Dr. Yen Sen” and “The Mysterious Wu Fang” for other magazines. In 1927 Flanagan joined the prestigious Guild of Freelance Artists. In 1930 he moved to l’Hotel des Artistes at 1 West 67th Street, where Norman Rockwell was also a tenant.
