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Frank Auerbach: Speaking and Painting
A rare and fascinating account of one of modern and contemporary painting’s most powerful creative minds
In the course of a career covering more than sixty years, Frank Auerbach has established a still growing international reputation for his paintings of friends, family, and surroundings in north London, with his vigorous, precise brushwork, and for his insistence on working until the picture emerges, free of all “possible explanations.”Catherine Lampert, an art historian and the curator of a major Auerbach retrospective at the Kunstmuseum Bonn and Tate Britain, has had unique access to the artist since 1978, when she became one of his sitters. Drawing on her conversations with Auerbach and from published and archival interviews, she offers rare insight into his professional life, working methods, and philosophy, as well as the places, people, and experiences that have shaped his life. These include arriving in Britain as a seven-year-old refugee from Nazi Germany in 1939, finding his way in the London art world of the 1950s and 60s, his friendships with Leon Kossoff, Francis Bacon, and Lucian Freud, among others, and his approaches to looking and painting throughout his working life. The text is complemented by illustrations of Auerbach’s paintings and drawings as well as by images from his studio and personal photographs that have never been published before.
In the course of a career covering more than sixty years, Frank Auerbach has established a still growing international reputation for his paintings of friends, family, and surroundings in north London, with his vigorous, precise brushwork, and for his insistence on working until the picture emerges, free of all “possible explanations.”Catherine Lampert, an art historian and the curator of a major Auerbach retrospective at the Kunstmuseum Bonn and Tate Britain, has had unique access to the artist since 1978, when she became one of his sitters. Drawing on her conversations with Auerbach and from published and archival interviews, she offers rare insight into his professional life, working methods, and philosophy, as well as the places, people, and experiences that have shaped his life. These include arriving in Britain as a seven-year-old refugee from Nazi Germany in 1939, finding his way in the London art world of the 1950s and 60s, his friendships with Leon Kossoff, Francis Bacon, and Lucian Freud, among others, and his approaches to looking and painting throughout his working life. The text is complemented by illustrations of Auerbach’s paintings and drawings as well as by images from his studio and personal photographs that have never been published before.
- GenresArt
297 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 25, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
March 1, 2020
This book engrossed me and I absorbed it in a very few hours. The biographical content is reasonably succinct and interesting, apparently focusing on details relevant to Frank Auerbach's art. But it was the comments on his elemental drive to paint that interested me most: to persevere through reworkings that require the courageous scraping off of all but the stain of yesterday's attempt; heading daily into the mist of possibilities and distractions to improvise like a cutting-edge jazzer; and freeing himself from all expectations in the faith that he will always know his destination when he arrives.
Catherine Lampert is an egoless, authority who might be most pleased to know that her writing expanded, clarified, enriched my way of looking at the work of Frank Auerbach.
And the book is a nice thing. Lots of decent illustrations. Good length. A pleasure. Thank you.
Catherine Lampert is an egoless, authority who might be most pleased to know that her writing expanded, clarified, enriched my way of looking at the work of Frank Auerbach.
And the book is a nice thing. Lots of decent illustrations. Good length. A pleasure. Thank you.
November 4, 2018
"'It's only by crawling across the floor, touching things, judging distances haptically, that the child will relate the sight of what he sees to the physical world'". p. 29
"'you find yourself making gestures that imply legs and breast and so on; you begin to imply a sense of mass on the paper or on the canvas simply because you have felt it'". p. 29
"'...there's only one exact and direct expression for yourself of the mass in front of you. There are a million ways of *not* getting it right...you're most lily to get it right when you're least self-conscious, when you've given up any hope of producing an acceptable drawing or painting...because then your permeated wordlessly by the influence of the ting you're painting'". p. 30
"'so the whole situation was...fraught...I had a far more poignant sense of it slipping away, of it being hard to get. I'd done the painting...in a relatively timid way; that is, I'd tried to do one part and then another part, and save a bit. Then I suddenly found in myself enough courage to repaint the whitele thing, from top to bottom, irrationally and instinctively...". p. 38
"'In the morning I'd been working, very, very conscientiously, painting a building site...suddenly I was conscious of something underneath...this building site, I'd done it again and again, I knew it intimately...and then there suddenly was the image underneath it...I'd destroyed all the reminders (that is, of painting) to get a unique thing...it began to operate by its own laws...but ti's senseless and irrelevant aunless it's tied, anchored, to truth. It's a question of freeing the possibilities of improvisation which contain mysteries.'" p. 104
"'Painters info committed to painting, might spend their energy on other things. Painting is my form of action'". p. 105
"Kepler tried to find the orbits of the planets and was absolutely convinced that they were elliptical and went on until the amount of measurement and knowledge that had been accrued began to create a unity of its own, and the did come to the point where he more or less correctly polluted the turning of th planets around the sun. That's a very grandiloquent comparison, of course, but it's a little like that, you keep looking, and you keep maturing, you keep. moving it [a form] up and down, you keep trying to make it and tis background one, and then you gradually begin to exclude certain things that you've put in by habit and you begin to see it more freshly and with any luck at the end you find. bold way of stating how what you've learnt has come together'". - p. 170
"it's a strenuous physical effort but occasionally, if the knowledge is accrued, if one's rehearsed the thing so much, it's surprising how much comparative delicacy and unity and likeness one can get very quickly.'" p. 170
"The drawing are made each morning...'The drawing is a mnemonic so one remembers what one saw outside so it is only one step removed from working with a model present.'" p. 172
"'Because if you're drawing anything, even a person, your head goes up and down and swivels. What you're seeing is in fact lots and lots of different linear perspectives that interpenetrate. So you've got to invent...the irrational marks actually seem a better record than the literal ones. They suggest things, and suddenly in a corner of the picture you get a bit of truth, which might actually expand into a whole truth....'" p. 195
"'It's never recording, it's never topography, and it's always using the material in order to make an image that has a character of its own...Allgood painting is abstract in a sense that good painting is abstraction, the better you are painting, the more if feels like dealing with nameless formal things, but non-figurative painting is only for people who believe there is a secret reality beneath, a human will, as Phillip Larkin wrote, "To bring to bloom the million-petalled flower/Of being here".'" p. 205
"'Ballet dancers think clearly, carpenters think clearly and they don't think in words, they don't think of saying; they do. They act directly accord to their sensations and there's no interposition of words at all, so it is a wordless zone'". p. 212
"'...I was struck by the fact that in one of [Tony Harrison's poems] the scansion was incorrect because he had a simple thing to say plainly, and while I was working I thought that, actually the geometry doesn't have to be coherent, I can break it here....If the truth is there, the architectural coherence can be broken or shifted. Sometimes the lines go round in my head a sI'm painting because they are so exciting'". p. 212-213
"'you find yourself making gestures that imply legs and breast and so on; you begin to imply a sense of mass on the paper or on the canvas simply because you have felt it'". p. 29
"'...there's only one exact and direct expression for yourself of the mass in front of you. There are a million ways of *not* getting it right...you're most lily to get it right when you're least self-conscious, when you've given up any hope of producing an acceptable drawing or painting...because then your permeated wordlessly by the influence of the ting you're painting'". p. 30
"'so the whole situation was...fraught...I had a far more poignant sense of it slipping away, of it being hard to get. I'd done the painting...in a relatively timid way; that is, I'd tried to do one part and then another part, and save a bit. Then I suddenly found in myself enough courage to repaint the whitele thing, from top to bottom, irrationally and instinctively...". p. 38
"'In the morning I'd been working, very, very conscientiously, painting a building site...suddenly I was conscious of something underneath...this building site, I'd done it again and again, I knew it intimately...and then there suddenly was the image underneath it...I'd destroyed all the reminders (that is, of painting) to get a unique thing...it began to operate by its own laws...but ti's senseless and irrelevant aunless it's tied, anchored, to truth. It's a question of freeing the possibilities of improvisation which contain mysteries.'" p. 104
"'Painters info committed to painting, might spend their energy on other things. Painting is my form of action'". p. 105
"Kepler tried to find the orbits of the planets and was absolutely convinced that they were elliptical and went on until the amount of measurement and knowledge that had been accrued began to create a unity of its own, and the did come to the point where he more or less correctly polluted the turning of th planets around the sun. That's a very grandiloquent comparison, of course, but it's a little like that, you keep looking, and you keep maturing, you keep. moving it [a form] up and down, you keep trying to make it and tis background one, and then you gradually begin to exclude certain things that you've put in by habit and you begin to see it more freshly and with any luck at the end you find. bold way of stating how what you've learnt has come together'". - p. 170
"it's a strenuous physical effort but occasionally, if the knowledge is accrued, if one's rehearsed the thing so much, it's surprising how much comparative delicacy and unity and likeness one can get very quickly.'" p. 170
"The drawing are made each morning...'The drawing is a mnemonic so one remembers what one saw outside so it is only one step removed from working with a model present.'" p. 172
"'Because if you're drawing anything, even a person, your head goes up and down and swivels. What you're seeing is in fact lots and lots of different linear perspectives that interpenetrate. So you've got to invent...the irrational marks actually seem a better record than the literal ones. They suggest things, and suddenly in a corner of the picture you get a bit of truth, which might actually expand into a whole truth....'" p. 195
"'It's never recording, it's never topography, and it's always using the material in order to make an image that has a character of its own...Allgood painting is abstract in a sense that good painting is abstraction, the better you are painting, the more if feels like dealing with nameless formal things, but non-figurative painting is only for people who believe there is a secret reality beneath, a human will, as Phillip Larkin wrote, "To bring to bloom the million-petalled flower/Of being here".'" p. 205
"'Ballet dancers think clearly, carpenters think clearly and they don't think in words, they don't think of saying; they do. They act directly accord to their sensations and there's no interposition of words at all, so it is a wordless zone'". p. 212
"'...I was struck by the fact that in one of [Tony Harrison's poems] the scansion was incorrect because he had a simple thing to say plainly, and while I was working I thought that, actually the geometry doesn't have to be coherent, I can break it here....If the truth is there, the architectural coherence can be broken or shifted. Sometimes the lines go round in my head a sI'm painting because they are so exciting'". p. 212-213
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August 3, 2024i wanna be a painter.
October 3, 2025
"I would like art to save things that are in danger of disappearing. I must say that I am never bored when I paint. In the first place, the world is very interesting, life is interesting and seems an unearned gift; perhaps one wants to give something back. In addition, painting is a wonderful game. One has little power over the crises in life, or in friends' lives. One cannot control wealth or poverty, happiness or misery. I am only in control when I am in the studio. Then I am close to life."
So many incredible and insightful glimpses into Auerbach's mind, into the thoughts and process of one of the greatest painters of the 20th century. Catherine Lampert, curator and art historian, who also had the privilege of being one of Auerbach's sitters for decades, recounts the painter's life and work in an exquisite, inspiring way, weaving in numerous quotes from his interviews and their own conversations. A must-read.
This book has also brought me back to my studio every day, making me want to take painting seriously again.
So many incredible and insightful glimpses into Auerbach's mind, into the thoughts and process of one of the greatest painters of the 20th century. Catherine Lampert, curator and art historian, who also had the privilege of being one of Auerbach's sitters for decades, recounts the painter's life and work in an exquisite, inspiring way, weaving in numerous quotes from his interviews and their own conversations. A must-read.
This book has also brought me back to my studio every day, making me want to take painting seriously again.
September 19, 2019
I can’t really tell you why but I felt so compelled to read this book but I did and I’m glad I have. Maybe through identification and transference, I hoped it would offer me an insight I to some of the questions I grapple with.
December 13, 2024
A great painter who should never have been asked to talk about his work.
November 20, 2015
This book covers the artist's life focusing on his art work and the exhibitions he has had. There are lots of quotes from the artist and from critics who have looked at his work over the years.
I like Frank's work a lot, but I am not always sure what he is doing in some of his work, and I found his comments in this book useful to understanding his work. At the same time I wasn't quite sure if I really understood what some of his quotes meant.
The book is written in quite a cool style. I would have liked to hear more of the author Catherine Lampert's responses to his work. After all she has been sitting for him since 1978, and is an art historian. But perhaps that would have meant a different book.
I like Frank's work a lot, but I am not always sure what he is doing in some of his work, and I found his comments in this book useful to understanding his work. At the same time I wasn't quite sure if I really understood what some of his quotes meant.
The book is written in quite a cool style. I would have liked to hear more of the author Catherine Lampert's responses to his work. After all she has been sitting for him since 1978, and is an art historian. But perhaps that would have meant a different book.
August 23, 2015
The early chapters contain a lot of material derived from older sources – and thus stuff I've already read – but there's plenty new here too. I think Lampert is a bit of a by-the-numbers writer, a bit on the bland side, so this book's worth is really when Auerbach's words take over, and you get that intoxicating sense of reading something by someone who really knows what's happening when you draw, who really understands what you're looking for and what's going on.
December 4, 2015
I really liked this book, specially after the early chapters (which are more focused on his biography).
After that, you have a lot of Frank's quotes about his creative process, which are, indeed, very interesting to read.
After that, you have a lot of Frank's quotes about his creative process, which are, indeed, very interesting to read.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews