Carl P. Flick (1904-1976) -- student

Born into the cloistered community of the Amana Society in January 1904, Carl Flick spent his life in West Amana, Iowa, raised by his parents, Peter and Wilhemine Flick, to respect handicrafts that provided sustenance for home life, even as the decorative arts were discouraged for their worldly aspects. Art instruction, in the Amana school program, was offered on Saturdays, and Flick thrived in the classes. By the late 1920s, the Amanas' residents slowly opened their views to artistic expression, and Carl Flick began painting during this time of new freedom. He married, fathered three children, and worked as a clerk at the West Amana general store. After contracting frostbite during a winter, 1929 hunting trip, Flick's physician required his patient to remain indoors during the entire recovery. The fledgling artist took up crayons and began sketching images from a home calendar; he then moved to watercolors and oils and heard stories of Grant Wood, the Cedar Rapids artist, visiting the Amana Colonies. Flick penned a quick letter to Wood and soon found the master painter on his doorstep, wanting to see his work. The correspondence launched the men's long friendship and the teacher-student relationship that proved instrumental for Flick's emerging role as a significant regionalist.

Grant Wood instructed Flick to paint what he knew, using the beauty of the Amana colonies to inspire his works. Tradition holds that Wood also built a self-stabilizing easel for Flick to use outdoors; under Wood's tutelage, Flick entered his first professional contest in 1931 and won fourth place in oils at the Iowa State Fair (Iowa Art Salon) for "Amana Interior." This seminal painting was later exhibited at the 127th Annual Exhibition of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (PAFA) in 1932 as one of two works representing Iowa. The painting was also shown at the All Iowa Exhibit (Carson, Pirie Scott & Company) in January, 1937. Flick's 1931, Iowa State Fair appearance also garnered honorable mentions for "Amana Blue" and "Amana Harvest," with the accolades coming only two years after he began to paint. All three works were later shown at the Memorial Hall (Memorial Union) at Iowa State University. In 1932, Flick had a one-man show at the Homestead Hotel in the Amanas; Grant Wood served as guest lecturer.

Flick also received high praise for his "Self-Portrait" and displayed at the Chicago's World Fair (1933). While employed in West Amana and painting with Wood, Flick had one-man shows at the Little Gallery in Cedar Rapids and at Younkers department store in Des Moines. He took classes from Adrian Dornbush; Wood frequently brought both Marvin Cone and Dornbush to sketch in the Amanas. Self-taught and possessed of immense talent, Flick's aspirations included a series of paintings devoted to scenes of Amana life. He completed only two of the series, "Liebesmahl" and "Amana Funeral" (ca.1933-1934). Both images were inspired by photographs of the unique way of life that ended with the "Great Change" (1932), the Amana Society's decision to abandon the communal system. Flick was a member of the elected committee that planned the massive reorganization.

During the summer of 1933, Carl Flick attended the Stone City Art Colony and had his extended family join him briefly on the colony grounds to visit with Wood. His masterwork, "Amana Interior," was selected by Edward Rowan as part of a traveling exhibition ("Iowa Speaks"), sponsored by the American Federation of Art (AFA). The 1934-1935 engagement was extended due to popular response; the painting also appeared at the Third Annual Exhibition of American Art in New York City (1938).

The body of Flick's work reflected his Amana -- the colonies, the landscape, and a quiet way of life. He remained a true friend to Wood and was one of the few people who was invited to Grant's secluded, Clear Lake, Iowa studio. He battled illness for years, resumed his painting in 1954, only to have eyesight problems create insurmountable barriers to work. By the mid 1960s, Flick had retired from Amana Refrigeration, where he had worked since the mid-1930s, and had stopped painting. In September 1976, Flick died at his West Amana home, the place where he had spent the majority of his life. Retrospectives of his achievements occurred at the Amana Arts Guild (Amana, IA, 1986) and the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art (1997).

"Amana Meat Shop." Image courtesy of Peter Hoehnle, Amana, Iowa.

"West Amana Meat Shop." Image courtesy of Peter Hoehnle, Amana,Iowa.

"Amana Funeral", ca. 1933-1934. Image provided by the Amana Heritage Society, Amana, Iowa.