Freud: Masters of Art

by Brad Finger

Get to know the master figurative painter Lucian Freud who depicted humanity with a poet's gaze and a perfectionist's eye for detail.

Lucian Freud dedicated his life to portraying the people in his world without flattery or refinement. Although his technique and style evolved tremendously over the decades, Freud never wavered in his uncompromising standards or unsentimental approach to his subjects. This introduction to Freud's life and oeuvre opens with an illuminating essay that explores how Freud's adherence to realism and focus on the human figure moved him in and out of the spotlight until the 1980s when renewed international interest in painting and figuration gave his work a new significance. Stunning reproductions of key works are presented chronologically, allowing readers to see how Freud's brushwork, composition, and use of light evolved over the decades. Whether he was painting members of the royal family or the cashier at a London nightclub, Freud imbued his portraits with psychological tension, humanity, and a profound interest in the relationship between painter and model.

Genres: Art

112 pages, Paperback

Published April 7, 2020

Reviews

[Pratik Phago · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Painters who use life itself as their subject matter, working with the object in front of them or constantly in mind, do so in order to translate life into art almost literally, as it were. The subject must be kept under closest observation: if this is done. day and night, the subject -he, she, or it- will eventually reveal it all, without which selection itself is not possible; they will reveal it, through some and every facet of their lives or lack of life, through movements and attitudes, through every variation from one moment to another. It is this very knowledge of life which can give art complete independence from life, an independence that is necessary because the picture, in order to move us, must never merely remind us of life, but must acquire a life of its own, precisely in order to make the picture independent from life, because, when a painter has a distant adoration of nature, awe of it, which stops him form examining it, he can only copay natures superficially, because he does not dare to change it." (From Lucian Freud's essay, Some Thoughts on Painting, 1954)

[Shin · Rating 3 out of 5]

(my rating is for the book, not his art per se)

i always wanted a book of #LucianFreud art since college but totally forgot abt him for a while and this November i saw two books of him in bookstores so i got both.

this one by #BradFinger contains a short biography and quick descriptions + slight historical backgrounds of a few works. i personally don't enjoy the selection of works here but it's ok. it's still LucianFreud. can't wait to read the bigger book i got published by #Taschen written by #SebastianSmee but let's not get into that yet so the obsession won't die down too soon.

this #Prestel edition is cheap so it's still a good introduction to his art and if you are curiouser about him there's a BBC documentary available on YouTube!