Throughout his career Flannagan was known for his intimate direct carvings which were archaic yet modern visions of female figures, faces, animals, and children. Following his first visit to Ireland (1930), the sculptor primarily carved figures and heads of animals (as these subjects were both critically acclaimed and much sought after on the market) and used stone as his material. “To that instrument of the subconscious, the hand of the sculptor, there exists an image within every rock. The creative act of realization merely frees it.” The sculptor believed that every carver or stone cutter should respond to and respect the natural shape of the rock and the unique result—often abstract or organic—was inevitable.