Thursday, August 1, 2013

LUCIAN FREUD

Lucian Freud was born in 1922 in Berlin, Germany. He was a figurative painter working primarily in realism. He is considered to be one of the greatest modern figural painters. In 1933, his family relocated from Berlin to London. When Freud was seventeen, he had began publishing his drawings in magazines such as the Horizon and becoming active within the avant-garde and homosexual communities of London. In 1939, Freud began his formal art training at the Central School of Art, the east Anglian School of Painting, and later Goldsmiths' College. Freud had his first solo exhibition in 1944. He remained a resident of London for the duration of his career and became a leading figure of the group of artists known as the School of London. Freud consistently worked as a painter and draughtsman for over forty years until 2011 when he passed away.
Reflection (Self-Portrait), Lucian Freud, Oil on Canvas, 22 x 20 ”, 1985

It was in the 1940's that Freud became serious about drawing portraits. He repeatedly painted his first and second wives. Early in Freud's painting career, he explored the human existential crisis through portraiture. By the early 1950's it was apparent that Freud had drifted from the problem of expression to the problem of creating the flawless illusion of reality. All of his paintings maintained a desaturated palette. Freud's focus was obsessive. In 1966, he found fascination in female nude bodies, then in 1977 he shifted his artistic obsession to the male nude body. It was in his female nude period that Freud had his mother and daughter sit nude for him. Many of Freud's models were close with him.


David Hockney, Lucian Freud, Oil on Canvas, 16 x 12 ¼ ", 2002

Freud is one of the most influential artists of my art. After looking at his work and seeing his paintings in museums, I better understand the importance of value and color for accurately describing the human body and form. His subtle use of color is masterful and yields a fluid composition. His portraits are typically of morbid faces and macabre figures. Allusions to Freud's style have subconsciously become present in my own paintings. I have not adopted a process similar to Freud's. He only painted from live subjects and dedicated massive amounts of time to each piece thus making his works more observational than experiential. I would like my process to be far quicker than his own. I do take preference of live models than images though. With my portraits, I do not seek to convey one emotion. Instead, I want to present facial expressions that suggest an infinite possibility of feeling because regardless of what we feel and are capable of feeling, we remain bound to our body and identity.

Benefit Supervisor Sleeping, Lucian Freud, Oil on Canvas, 59 5/8 x 86¼ ”, 1995

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