What do you think?
Rate this book
The Lives of Lucian Freud: Fame 1968 - 2011
LONGLISTED FOR THE 2020 BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE
In this brilliant second and final volume of the definitive biography of Lucian Freud--one of the most influential, enigmatic and secretive artists of the twentieth century--William Feaver, the noted art critic, draws on years of daily conversations with Freud, on his private papers and letters and on interviews with his friends and family to explore the intimate life of Freud, from age forty-five to his death in 2011 at the age of eighty-nine.
The final forty years of Freud's life were a period of increasing recognition and fame, and of prodigious output. He was obsessed with his art, and with the idea of producing paintings that "astonish, disturb, seduce, convince." He was equally energetic and ambitious in his private life. This book opens with his dramatic affair with Jacquetta Eliot, which led to some of his most intimate portraits and to the start of two important, lifelong friendships, with Jane Willoughby and Susanna Chancellor. Freud talks about his art at all stages, how it changed in the seventies and his first retrospective in London in 1974. His move to a new studio in Holland Park in the late seventies marked an important increase in the scale of his work, such as Large Interior W11 (After Watteau), which was his breakthrough painting. In this space, people would come and go--his children, his lover, the painter Celia Paul and all the sitters from his nightlife. His close friendship with Francis Bacon would end and be replaced with that of Frank Auerbach. His obsession with gambling would give way to work, and from the nineties through the 2000s, a wide range of subjects would sit for him, including the performance artist Leigh Bowery; Kate Moss; Jerry Hall; supervisor Sue Tilley; his longtime assistant, David Dawson; his own children; and, in 2001, Queen Elizabeth. Two phenomenally successful exhibitions would transform his international reputation: the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington DC in 1988 and a retrospective at the Tate in 2002.
Here is Freud's voice--still as fierce, complicated, witty and charismatic as in his youth--talking about his art, his friends and lovers and the gossip about them all, making this volume, like the first, a nod to autobiography. Vivid and engrossing, The Lives of Lucian Freud is a dazzling and authoritative tour de force that reveals important new details about the thoughts, the life and the work of this elusive artist.
In this brilliant second and final volume of the definitive biography of Lucian Freud--one of the most influential, enigmatic and secretive artists of the twentieth century--William Feaver, the noted art critic, draws on years of daily conversations with Freud, on his private papers and letters and on interviews with his friends and family to explore the intimate life of Freud, from age forty-five to his death in 2011 at the age of eighty-nine.
The final forty years of Freud's life were a period of increasing recognition and fame, and of prodigious output. He was obsessed with his art, and with the idea of producing paintings that "astonish, disturb, seduce, convince." He was equally energetic and ambitious in his private life. This book opens with his dramatic affair with Jacquetta Eliot, which led to some of his most intimate portraits and to the start of two important, lifelong friendships, with Jane Willoughby and Susanna Chancellor. Freud talks about his art at all stages, how it changed in the seventies and his first retrospective in London in 1974. His move to a new studio in Holland Park in the late seventies marked an important increase in the scale of his work, such as Large Interior W11 (After Watteau), which was his breakthrough painting. In this space, people would come and go--his children, his lover, the painter Celia Paul and all the sitters from his nightlife. His close friendship with Francis Bacon would end and be replaced with that of Frank Auerbach. His obsession with gambling would give way to work, and from the nineties through the 2000s, a wide range of subjects would sit for him, including the performance artist Leigh Bowery; Kate Moss; Jerry Hall; supervisor Sue Tilley; his longtime assistant, David Dawson; his own children; and, in 2001, Queen Elizabeth. Two phenomenally successful exhibitions would transform his international reputation: the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington DC in 1988 and a retrospective at the Tate in 2002.
Here is Freud's voice--still as fierce, complicated, witty and charismatic as in his youth--talking about his art, his friends and lovers and the gossip about them all, making this volume, like the first, a nod to autobiography. Vivid and engrossing, The Lives of Lucian Freud is a dazzling and authoritative tour de force that reveals important new details about the thoughts, the life and the work of this elusive artist.
717 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 3, 2020
26 people are currently reading
247 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
July 25, 2022
I went directly from the first book to this second volume and i'm just over it. I'm offically sick Lucian Freud. The man was a selfish arsehole with the morals of an alley cat in heat. He didn't care who he hurt and he justified it all on the grounds that he was in fact an artistic genius.
I normally enjoy reading about wild bohemian art scenes and the goings on of the brilliant and talented but in this case i'm over it.
Perhaps these two books would have been better off being condensed into a single volume?
The author is obviously too much of an adoring fanboy to edit things down to a digestible level.
I normally enjoy reading about wild bohemian art scenes and the goings on of the brilliant and talented but in this case i'm over it.
Perhaps these two books would have been better off being condensed into a single volume?
The author is obviously too much of an adoring fanboy to edit things down to a digestible level.
March 14, 2021
I only read about 1/3; although billed as a history of the times through which Lucien lived, it is not that kind of book... he is a talented, and incredilbly self centered artist.. one must look up some of the referenced paintings to get a sense of his wide range of expression in his portrait work... but to sum up, the accounts of his self centered life are a bit boring, with little external focus...i didn’t think for what it describes, that the book deserved 600 pages of my reding time.....and it didn’t get it either....
April 9, 2021
This second volume of Lucian Freud's biography covers the period of his greatest recognition until his death, the many shows, retrospectives, honours, travels and the increase in his productivity as he got older. It also covers the complexity of his private live and the difficulties of maintaining reliable sitters who inspired him into the ailments of old age. As close as we'll be likely to get to this very private person. - BH.
August 22, 2022
I have to start by saying that William Feaver clearly had a long and interesting relationship with Lucian Freud, but this second volume of the biography is clearly more about FW than LF. Feaver never misses an opportunity to insert himself into the story, to express his personal (and not necessarily widely held) opinions about other artists, malign the painter Francis Bacon and secure for posterity how indispensable he was to Freud from the 1970s up to the end.
I reviewed volume one some months back. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... I conceded a star (gave four rather than three) just because of the quantity of information in the book. Not doing that this tine. The fact is that Feaver is not an accomplished writer when it comes to projects of this scale. Everything that irritated me in volume one was more irritating in volume two. Especially as Feaver as author exudes all the charm of a name-dropper trying to hit on one at some social event.
Feaver continues to simply toss long passages from Freud's letters, notes and recordings into the narrative as though Freud's memories and opinions are either correct or insightful. They are frequently neither. Feaver's style makes reading a taxing process because it is easy to lose track of who is speaking.
Feaver also periodically reminds the viewer that this is supposed to be a book about the art and not a book about Freud personally. Uh-huh. Right. And he inserts queries from Nick Serota, then Director of the Tate, and various gallerists and friends, about "how the book is coming along." Lest the reader forget that the book referenced is the one the reader is holding and, my, aren't we grateful to WF for such a gift.
On that note, Feaver constantly refers to lovers, ex-lovers, children (acknowledged and not) and grandchildren (acknowledged and not) but--presumably honoring Freud's demand that the book not be "personal"--doesn't provide an appendix or diagram that would provide a timeline and context for these names. Even Wikipedia recognizes the complexity in the partial list of offspring it provides: fourteen known, perhaps as many as forty all told. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucian_.... At an English wedding I attended back in the 1970s, the brother of the bride gave this toast: "I wish to the couple in their life together the patience of Job, the wisdom of Solomon and the children of the Tribes of Israel. It seems like Freud gave the Tribes of Israel a run for their money.
But my point is, the more names there are and the more relevant they are to the matter under discussion (Freud's daily life, the way he perceives people and sitters, and his art) the more important that the reader be able to get a grip on who they are, how old they are and how their mothers fit into the picture (pun intended). No, Freud wouldn't have wanted such a list in the book but he was dead ten years by the time it was published. Not only should Feaver have overlooked that stricture, his publisher Knopf should have thrown a few bucks to an indexer or graphic designer to put one together.
Another thing Knopf should have done was spend a little time identifying illustrations. Two small sections of color plates are nice, but there is nothing in the text that alerts the reader to those plates or to the few black-and-white figures elsewhere. Feaver goes on endlessly about a number of paintings not reproduced in the book and that is just annoying. Yes, I keep my cell phone handy so I can keep looking up works under discussion, but I don't think access to the Internet should be a prerequisite for grasping the content of a printed book.
Two books that do a really splendid job connecting the text with illustrations offer a comparison. One is "Francis Bacon" by Mark Stevens and Annalyn Swan, also published in 2021. Mary Beards's "The Twelve Caesars," also from 2021, is simply exemplary in terms of design. All of these books are art books and art is about things visual. Yes I know that getting permissions is a nuisance and can be inconvenient, but, hey, that's not the reader's fault.
The copyediting, moreover is sloppy. One double spread of photographs, one of which prominently features Feaver in a white shirt, omits identification of Richard Calvocoressi, then director of the Scottish National Museum and an art historian and museum professional of note. And some of those kids in the picture with Feaver belong to Calvocoressi.
Is the book useful? Yes. It has a tremendous amount of information in it, for the reader committed to developing an inclusive sense of Lucian Freud and his art. I will probably put it on my ongoing list of recommendations I might make to students and those interested in art. But it is also problematic for the way it skews understanding of Freud's peers, the art world of the period, especially the British art world, and offers a rag-rug of anecdotes when a sturdier weaving of facts is needed.
I emerged from the reading of "The Lives of Lucian Freud, Fame, 1968-2011" with, I think, less liking for Freud's art although certainly a more complete understanding of it. The unlikability of the painter is, moreover, secured more firmly in my mind.
And as for William Feaver? The circles we run in would never overlap--and I can only be grateful for that.
I reviewed volume one some months back. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... I conceded a star (gave four rather than three) just because of the quantity of information in the book. Not doing that this tine. The fact is that Feaver is not an accomplished writer when it comes to projects of this scale. Everything that irritated me in volume one was more irritating in volume two. Especially as Feaver as author exudes all the charm of a name-dropper trying to hit on one at some social event.
Feaver continues to simply toss long passages from Freud's letters, notes and recordings into the narrative as though Freud's memories and opinions are either correct or insightful. They are frequently neither. Feaver's style makes reading a taxing process because it is easy to lose track of who is speaking.
Feaver also periodically reminds the viewer that this is supposed to be a book about the art and not a book about Freud personally. Uh-huh. Right. And he inserts queries from Nick Serota, then Director of the Tate, and various gallerists and friends, about "how the book is coming along." Lest the reader forget that the book referenced is the one the reader is holding and, my, aren't we grateful to WF for such a gift.
On that note, Feaver constantly refers to lovers, ex-lovers, children (acknowledged and not) and grandchildren (acknowledged and not) but--presumably honoring Freud's demand that the book not be "personal"--doesn't provide an appendix or diagram that would provide a timeline and context for these names. Even Wikipedia recognizes the complexity in the partial list of offspring it provides: fourteen known, perhaps as many as forty all told. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucian_.... At an English wedding I attended back in the 1970s, the brother of the bride gave this toast: "I wish to the couple in their life together the patience of Job, the wisdom of Solomon and the children of the Tribes of Israel. It seems like Freud gave the Tribes of Israel a run for their money.
But my point is, the more names there are and the more relevant they are to the matter under discussion (Freud's daily life, the way he perceives people and sitters, and his art) the more important that the reader be able to get a grip on who they are, how old they are and how their mothers fit into the picture (pun intended). No, Freud wouldn't have wanted such a list in the book but he was dead ten years by the time it was published. Not only should Feaver have overlooked that stricture, his publisher Knopf should have thrown a few bucks to an indexer or graphic designer to put one together.
Another thing Knopf should have done was spend a little time identifying illustrations. Two small sections of color plates are nice, but there is nothing in the text that alerts the reader to those plates or to the few black-and-white figures elsewhere. Feaver goes on endlessly about a number of paintings not reproduced in the book and that is just annoying. Yes, I keep my cell phone handy so I can keep looking up works under discussion, but I don't think access to the Internet should be a prerequisite for grasping the content of a printed book.
Two books that do a really splendid job connecting the text with illustrations offer a comparison. One is "Francis Bacon" by Mark Stevens and Annalyn Swan, also published in 2021. Mary Beards's "The Twelve Caesars," also from 2021, is simply exemplary in terms of design. All of these books are art books and art is about things visual. Yes I know that getting permissions is a nuisance and can be inconvenient, but, hey, that's not the reader's fault.
The copyediting, moreover is sloppy. One double spread of photographs, one of which prominently features Feaver in a white shirt, omits identification of Richard Calvocoressi, then director of the Scottish National Museum and an art historian and museum professional of note. And some of those kids in the picture with Feaver belong to Calvocoressi.
Is the book useful? Yes. It has a tremendous amount of information in it, for the reader committed to developing an inclusive sense of Lucian Freud and his art. I will probably put it on my ongoing list of recommendations I might make to students and those interested in art. But it is also problematic for the way it skews understanding of Freud's peers, the art world of the period, especially the British art world, and offers a rag-rug of anecdotes when a sturdier weaving of facts is needed.
I emerged from the reading of "The Lives of Lucian Freud, Fame, 1968-2011" with, I think, less liking for Freud's art although certainly a more complete understanding of it. The unlikability of the painter is, moreover, secured more firmly in my mind.
And as for William Feaver? The circles we run in would never overlap--and I can only be grateful for that.
June 23, 2025
Suffers from the same issues as Volume 1. Feaver uses extensive quotes from Freud, often unedited and rambling. Freud was still picking up female students for nude modelling when he was in his 80s! Yuk
November 16, 2024
Very good indeed, even if not quite as much fun as the first volume, which is mostly the usual thing that reading about an artist’s struggles (not that Freud had many) are more interesting than their successes, but also that once William Feaver himself enters Freud’s life, early in this volume, he can’t be entirely so objective. Also the bohemian life of post war London is just more fun to read about than the 80s and 90s. As for Freud himself…he clearly was a man of great charm, or he wouldn’t have got away with being such a selfish prick for so long. What surprised me more was how analytical he was (no joke intended about his granddad). Anyone committing themselves through a lifetime of effort to achieve something hard is inherently interesting. Finally, the two volumes have given me a terrific sense that I now *know* Freud, as well as having had a great time doing it. So all in all a highly satisfying work of biography.
February 23, 2021
Brilliant!
Reaver brings Freud to life so brilliantly, relating his art to his life so well while avoiding judgment on his often insensitive treatment of friends, lovers and fellow artists.
Reaver brings Freud to life so brilliantly, relating his art to his life so well while avoiding judgment on his often insensitive treatment of friends, lovers and fellow artists.
December 5, 2023
Intimate & revealing..what a life.
Want to read
March 23, 2024SFP 3-9-22… Success!
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews