The motion of a viscous, electrically conducting fluid past a finite two-dimensional obstacle is investigated. The magnetic field is assumed to be uniform and parallel to the velocity at infinity. By means of a perturbation technique, approximations valid for large values of the Hartmann number M are derived. It is found that, over any finite region, the flow field is characterized by the presence of shear layers fore and aft of the body. The limit attained over the exterior region represents the two-dimensional counterpart of the axially symmetric solution given by Chester (1961). Attention is focused on a number of nominally ‘higher-order’ effects, including the presence of two distinct boundary layers. The results hold only when M [Gt ] Re; Re = Reynolds number. However, a generalization of the procedure, in which the last assumption is relaxed, is suggested.