12 Flag Designers in Honor of Our Independence Day

Since July is the month when we celebrate our country’s independence, and the Summer Olympics have started in Japan, I thought the subject of flags and their designers would be interesting. Recall my inclusion of the 5-ring design of the Olympics that symbolizes the continents. See my October 2020 post entitled, What's in a Logo? Recognizable and Memorable Company Logos.

While Betsy Ross (1752-1836) is often credited for making the first American flag, it is actually Francis Hopkinson (1737-1791) who designed its two earliest versions (above). You just can’t trust the History you learn in school (or can you?). This proposed design for the Arkansas state flag was created by state historian, teacher, principal, and poet Willie Kavanaugh Hocker (1862-1944) in 1912. According to Wikipedia, a fourth star and the state name were added later in the final version.

The current American flag made #4 on The Ringer’s Which Country Has the Best Flag? list. However, the author apparently prefers the simplicity of the Japanese flag, ranking it 2nd; he believes that the Canadian flag is the worst (205th). Both flags use red and white, where white is considered to be solely a background color. I actually like the maple leaf on Canada's flag!

Let’s study the various types of flags from countries around the world based on aspects such as color scheme, contrast, patterns, and themes. Wikipedia does a nice job of listing Flags by Design.

I appreciate how effectively the Scandinavian countries divide the rectangular space into sections creating a cross pattern, often with white costarring with another color.

Some countries prefer to go the simple route and fly flags of a single color, like green for Libya (1977-2011), red for North Yemen (1918-1923), and black for Afghanistan (1709-1738 and 1880-1901). In Robert Rauschenberg’s White Painting (1951), he went so far as to create six variations, each with a different number of panels. Purely white flags are typically used for signifying surrender or symbolizing peace or calling for a truce.

Then there are the countries that choose to venture out into two colors (bicolor or duotone), the really wild ones choosing high-contrast or adding some sort of small symbol. My favorites are the simple vertical tricolor stripes of European flags observing the rule of thirds. These are often the most recognizable and memorable in my opinion. 

World’s Ugliest Flags: British Columbia, Belize, Virginia, Turkmenistan, and Morocco, according to one author. As with paintings and other artwork, it is really up to the viewer to decide what appeals to their own artistic senses.

A vexillologist is someone who designs flags. A vexillographer is someone who studies flags. Here is a list of 10 countries, their flags, and the vexillologists credited for designing them:

1. Argentina – Manual Belgrano (1770-1820). The Sun is a common theme on many countries' flags.

2. Brazil – Raimundo Teixeira Mendez (1855-1927). This flag includes the diamond shape, while the circle is much more commonly used. Inscriptions often include the National Motto; Brazil's reads:

"Ordem E Progresso" (Portuguese for "Order and Progress"). The stars represent Brazil's 26 states and the federal district.

3. Canada – George Stanley (1907-2002). While Canada's flag now sports a maple leaf on its flag, I find it funny that Ireland doesn't have a shamrock on its flag.

4. China – Zeng Liansong (1917-1999). Stars are the most common symbols found on many of the world's flags. At one point there was a hammer and sickle inscribed in the larger star, but it was removed because it was too similar to that of the Soviet Union.

5. Cyprus – Ismet Güney (1932-2009). This flag uses the shape of its island and an olive branch to symbolize peace and the unity between the Greek and Turkish Cypriots on a white background (also for peace).

6. India – Pingali Venkayya (1876-1963). Although many may mistake the central symbol for a sun or flower, it is actually the Ashoka Chakra, and signifies signifies peaceful change (for there is "life in movement and death in stagnation").

7. Nigeria – Michael Taiwo AkinKummi (1936-present). As usual, white means peace and unity, and in this case green represents natural wealth.

8. Norway – Fredrik Meltzer (1779-1855). Used throughout Scandinavia, the cross symbolizes Christianity. The other colors, found on the American and French flags, represent freedom.

9. Pakistan – Syed Amir-uddin Kedwaii (1901-1973). Just as Scandinavian flags use a cross to symbolize their religion, Pakistan uses a crescent and star to represent theirs -- Islam.

10. Uruguay – Joaquin Suárez (1781-1868). It's hard to tell in the picture but there are actually nine stripes representing Uruguay's departments. It's common to represent established (original) divisions within a country by repeating stripes or stars. The upper left 'canton' once again includes the sun.

Other less often used symbols add uniqueness and interest to a flag but can make such detail difficult to interpret from far away. They are: animals, boats (anchor or ship), books, buildings, headgear, hills (mountains or rocks), a map, machine (tool or instrument), person (body part), shield (or weapon), spirals, square, or triangle. Hopefully the citizens of each country have learned what the elements symbolize.

Which country's flag is your favorite?

Flags Depicted in Famous Paintings

Declaration of Independence (1817), Trumbull

Many artists have depicted flags in their artwork (Jasper Johns (1930-), Howard Pyle (1853-1911), and John Trumbull (1756-1843)). Around 1817, Trumbull used this painting to create the etching that appeared on the back of the $2 bill. The captured British flags in the background served as trophies hung during the presentation of the document to the Second Continental Congress 28 June 1776. It was later adopted July 4th and eventually signed August 2nd. His portrait of Alexander Hamilton appears on the $10 bill. 

Nation Makers (1903), Pyle

American Illustrator, Howard Pyle, famous for teaching composition to N.C. Wyeth, created The Nation Makers in 1903 to depict the recently declared national flag carried during the Battle of Brandywine (1777).

Liberty Leading the People (1830), Delacroix

French artist, Eugène Delacroix's Liberty Leading the People, commemorates the July Revolution in Paris that removed Charles X and created a constitutional monarchy. In May 2011, I was lucky enough to see this huge painting in-person at the Louvre Museum. The one I show here has been somewhat modestly truncated.

Terrace at the Seaside, Sainte-Adresse (1867), Monet

Probably my favorite painting with flags is Claude Monet's (1840-1926) Terrace at the Seaside, Sainte-Adresse. It's a relaxed portrait of his family. The red and yellow flag may have been used as a ship-to-shore signaling device, although its colors are also present in the flag of the Sainte-Adresse municipality.

Irish Artists in Honor of St. Patrick's Day

It's been nearly four years since we visited Dublin, Ireland on our trip to the UK in June of 2017.  While we did visit the Irish National Gallery, many of the floors were closed off to the public, possibly for renovation. However, we did get to see works by Picasso, Signac, Monet, Sisley, and John Singer Sargent. See my June 2019 post entitled, UK Art and Museums.

Molly Malone (installed in 1988)

Apparently, there are lots of statues of Dublin's famous characters although the only one I remember seeing was of Molly Malone, the heroine immortalized in Dublin's unofficial anthem. Visitors seem to be enamored with her breasts as is evidenced by the shiniest area of the bronze sculpture.

Guinness Turtle
by John Gilroy

Our favorite attractions were the Guinness Brewery and the Jameson Distillery. Surprisingly, both showcased artwork used in advertising along with other historical artifacts. My daughter and I also found a picture of David Bowie (who died in January 2016) displayed in a shop window. In January 2021, I included him in my post about Famous Capricorns Throughout History.

In my March 2020 post, Shamrocks, Bowler Hats, and Irish Artists I highlighted Irish artists -- Francis Bacon, Dorothy Cross, Conor Harrington, and Sean Scully -- and now I realize that I missed six more famous artists from the Emerald Isle. See The Best and Most Famous Irish Artists.

Let's go in chronological order:

1. Charles Jervas (1675-1739) was famous for his portraiture.

Deer, Dog, and Cat (the 1730s),
Charles Jervas

His figures of royalty are stylized with elongated bodies and often disproportionately small heads. His paintings that include children show much smaller almost dwarfed figures clad just as opulently as the adults. I found this rather gruesome portrait of a dog and cat with the spoils of a hunt, including a deer and a bird (excluded from the title).

2. Sir John Lavery (1856-1941) also painted portraits and is particularly known for depicting wartime (WWI) scenes.

The Chess Players (1929), Sir John Lavery

This painting is a portrait of two redheaded girls playing chess. It reminds me of the Netflix miniseries, which we watched while visiting Palm Springs, CA -- The Queen's Gambit -- about a young female orphan who with the help of a janitor and her adoptive mother becomes a famous chess player.

3. Jack Butler Yeats (1871-1957) was an Irish Expressionist artist and brother of Irish Poet, William Butler Yeats.

Kerry Fisherman (1927), Jack B. Yeats

His work will be featured at the Irish National Gallery this September in an exhibition entitled, Jack B. Gates: Painting & Memory. 

4. Paul Henry (1877-1958) was primarily famous for his landscape paintings.

The Potato Diggers (1910-11), Paul Henry

You can clearly see how Henry was influenced by French artist, Jean François Millet (one of my favorites), whose work was often copied by Vincent Van Gogh. He was also influenced by Paul Cezanne and Paul Gauguin.

5. Norah McGuinness (1901-1988) is known for her illustrations.

McGuinness was a painter and illustrator who was influenced by modern Cubists. She designed sets for the Abbey and Peacock theatres and illustrated William B. Yeats’ Stories of Red Hanrahan and the Secret Rose (1927).

6. Louis le Brocquy (1916-2012) was an artist who dabbled in Cubism.

Travelling Woman with Newspaper (1947-48)
Louis le Brocquy

Remarkably, 12 years before his death, his Cubist painting, Travelling Woman with Newspaper fetched a whopping £1.2 million. The colorful divisions in the background remind me of Surrealist Marc Chagall's I and the Village, although I'd need to study this one a bit more to better understand what I am seeing. Apparently, the woman represents the artist's study of the traveling clans (~gypsies) who lived outside of conventional rules-based societies, hence the crumpling of the newspaper (I guess). The green kerchief is wrapped around her red hair almost becoming one with the green hills.

Shamrocks, Bowler Hats, and Irish Artists

Do you know the significance of the shamrock symbol?
St. Patrick used it to explain the Holy Trinity (three) to the Irish while trying to convert them to Christianity. Nowadays it stands for faith, hope, and love. It is often mistaken for the four-leaf clover, although an actual shamrock has only three rather heart-shaped leaves. The British bowler hat or American derby hat was created in 1849 and would have been unavailable to Leonardo da Vinci.










The Girl With a Shamrock Earring is actually wearing a four-leaf clover.

Ben Franklin's family left England for America to escape religious persecution; they were Puritans. Even if he were wearing the bifocals he invented, he still makes a lousy leprechaun!

In modern times, the American derby was worn by Billy the Kid, Butch Cassidy, Charlie Chaplin, Stan Laurel, and British-American actress, Olga Petrova.

Also, don't forget René Magritte's "The Son of Man", who is also wearing a bowler hat (See Movie Art Cameos post).

Indulge me a bit longer as I share some TV and movie characters and actors famous for sporting the bowler hat. Obviously, Mr. Banks from "Mary Poppins" wore a proper British bowler as did Mr. Steed from TV's "The Avengers" and even Stymie from "The Little Rascals".

How about Oddjob from the James Bond movie, "Goldfinger"? Or Liza Minnelli in Cabaret? 

Or the creepy character Alex from "A Clockwork Orange" starring Malcolm McDowell?

Let's talk about some notable Irish artists: Francis Bacon, Dorothy Cross, Conor Harrington, and Sean Scully. Personally, I am not impressed with their works. The works of two of these artists have been described as grotesque (I agree). Three of them are contemporary and have art as recent as 2013. The fourth, Francis Bacon, is a more established 20th-century artist. I liken his works to artists such as Surrealist Salvador Dali and Abstract German Expressionists Max Beckmann and Willem de Kooning. Beckmann and de Kooning, like Bacon, were largely portraitists. I much prefer the former two artists to the latter.




Bacon and Beckmann loved painting figures in triptychs (3 panels). The threes are in keeping with this post's shamrock theme.

I recall teaching about Beckmann years ago when I was an art docent in my daughter's elementary school classroom. The work we used was Beckmann's "Departure" (1932-35).









Here's a self-portrait of Beckmann wearing a bowler hat
(Are you sensing a theme?)












Another German Expressionist that I taught about is Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and his pastel work entitled "Street Scene". My lesson involved the scribble drawing of elongated figures, and I think we made the teacher model for us.