Posted By:
Max WederEd
Simply because Flood writes in his autobiography that he painted something does not make it true. As well, simply because another author such as Snyder writes the contrary does not make it false. However, Snyder presents some fairly compelling evidence that Flood's public status as an oil artist was driven by marketing, rather than talent.
At page nine of the book, Snyder states that the King portrait that was donated to the White House was signed by someone other than Flood. The source he quotes is Judy Pace Flood (Flood's second wife), from a May 19, 2005 interview. There is nothing in the book to indicate that she would have any reason to not tell the truth, as she is later given much credit for turning Flood's life around.
(This part is a little confusing from Snyder. Later on, he indicates that the portrait artist would paint the portrait, and Flood would simply sign his own name to them. It's not clear from the book whether the actual artist signed his (or her) own name, or Flood's. )
Snyder states that Flood was adept with a pencil and ink pad, but could not paint oils: "Instead, he sent photographs of his subjects to a Burbank-based portrait artist who enlarged the photographs and simply painted over them."
The artist is later identified at page 325 of the book as Laurence Williams: "Except to Karen [Brecher]and a few family members, Curt kept up the illusion that he was painting the portraits". Williams is also quoted from a telegram that "'I have one former professional football player that has been associated with me for 9-10 years, and he has made a little over $80,000 this past year'. Williams was alluding to former NFL wide received Tommy McDonald." Snyder indicates that he has a copy of that telegram on file.
From an interview Snyder had with Karen Brecher (who lived with Flood for six years), he quotes her as asking Flood if he could have painted a portrait from scratch and Flood replied no.
As I've indicated, the book is excellent, extensively researched and footnoted, and does present a sympathetic view of Flood, who endured much personal tragedy and stress in his fight against the reserve clause. Snyder's research of Flood's art business is not done to denigrate Flood, but to help us try to understand the complexities of the man's character, why he chose to fight organized baseball, and the toll it took on his personal life.
Max