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interest in forging a distinct American culture and tracking the progress of the new nation in the wake of the passing of the Revolutionary War generation.”
Today, a shopping tour of almost
any large flea market will yield collectible flag-art memorabilia, old and new. According to Bridgman, there’s still a large demand for historical flags. “Most people have a purpose for wanting a flag—such as a spot picked out on the wall they have in mind—when they call me,” he says, noting that potential buyers don’t realize that most old flags—especially those from the 19th century—would cover most walls. “Flags aren’t that big today.”
In addition to folk art, the American
flag has been featured in many paintings by Philadelphia and Brandywine Valley artists of the representational school. N.C., Andrew and Jamie Wyeth have prominently featured flags in their works.
The Betsy Ross story and George Washington crossing the Delaware have always loomed large in U.S. flag lore. So has
“For much of our history, the flag wasn’t all that important—except in battles and
on ships.”
—Flag dealer Jeff Bridgman
the Francis Scott Key poem written following the 1814 British bombardment of Fort McHenry in Baltimore Harbor. In 1931, it officially became the national anthem. Now a national monument, the fort is normally open for tours. The fact that Key owned slaves and as a lawyer represented slave owners in court is a testament to the complicated history of the anthem and flag in America—one that often still divides the country.
But there is no doubt that the Stars & Stripes has served as an inspiration at
many levels to many people, more than something saluted before ball games. Abstract expressionist Jasper Johns has painted many flags in his career. He's said that the
famous one he painted in 1965, simply titled “Flags,” came to him in a dream. The paintings of Johns, now 90, are the subject
of a major COVID-delayed retrospective at the Philadelphia Museum of Art from
Sept. 28 to Feb. 13 of next year, in collaboration with the Whitney Museum
in New York.
As it turns out, Johns had more to inspire his flag oeuvres than dreams. In a 1991 interview, he cited an additional inspiration for his love of painting flags. “In a Savannah, Ga., park, there’s a statue of Sgt. William Jasper. Once I was walking through this park with my father, and he said that we were named for him,” said Johns, who was named after his dad. “Whether or not that is in fact true or not, I don’t know—Sgt. Jasper lost his life raising the American flag over
a fort.” TH
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70 THE HUNT MAGAZINE summer 2021