#theselfportraits

[mariodelopez]

London: Diary of a City Lucian Freud: The Self-Portraits Royal Academy of Arts #artdayinthecity #lucianfreud #theselfportraits #royalacademyofarts #masterpainter #portraitist #britishartist #evolutionofanartist #london #england (at Royal Academy of Arts) https://www.instagram.com/p/B7hLlBxgdRj/?igshid=1cg9je2ery0vm

[jasminekee]

Exhibition review: Lucien Freud: The Self-Portraits at the RA.

‘My work is purely autobiographical. It’s about myself and my surroundings’ - Lucein Freud 

Lucien Freud is my favourite artist. Renowned for paintings of dramatic intensity, produced through a process of scrupulous observation, his works possess a cryptic quality which I find fascinating. Organised in collaboration with the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Lucien Freud: The Self-Portraits brings together more than fifty paintings, drawing and prints for the first time, in an exhibition at London’s Royal Academy of Arts. It makes undeniable just how much Freud pushed the boundaries of a practice made popular in the 15th century. 

The exhibition provides a captivating insight into the psyche and artistic evolution of one of the most celebrated portrait artists in modern times. The work spans almost seven decades. From his first self-portrait in 1939 to his last, painted sixty four years later. Many of the works come from private collections, and include paintings and drawings from Freud’s teenage years. What the exhibition does best is highlight the centrality of Freud’s self-portraiture to the development of his artistic practice. 

Viewed chronologically, the works on display chart how Freud’s style moved from a linear and graphic one, in the early part of his career, to a textured and more painterly approach. This change in technique - we are informed - came from Freud’s switch from delicate sable brushes to those made of hog hair which he was able to load with thick paint. The exhibition's third room - Transition - does what it says on the tin. In it, a series of watercolours demonstrate how Freud’s handling of paint began to open up. The fine and delicate aesthetic of earlier pen and pencil works are replaced with loose and thicker brushstrokes and washes. Prior to the mid-1950s, Freud had focused on drawing; but soon abandoned this in favour of painting and even stopped drawing altogether for a period of seven years. 

Freud is one of very few twentieth century artists to have documented themselves with such consistency in their art, but his presence is not always obvious. Painting himself in relation to those around him, his is often looming, hidden in a corner, a shadow or his reflection. His presence, thus, serves to emphasise the autobiographical nature of his work where it provides an insight into his relationship with the sitter. Using mirrors allowed Freud to view himself from unexpected angels with a degree of objectivity. His work is compelling both in its subject matter and artistic technique. One views it almost with the same level of intensity that Freud placed on himself and his subjects. Such prolonged scrutinisation, Freud termed ‘biological truth-telling’. It was an approach he equally applied to his changing body, and his work and the exhibition also highlight the process of ageing. In his youth, Freud depicts himself as the horned Greek hero Acteon (Self-portrait as Actaeon, 1949), but by the end of the exhibition - now aged seventy-one - he is naked but for a pair of old and unlaced boots (Painter Working, Reflection, 1993). 

Lucien Fraud: The Self-Portraits is on display in the Sackler Wing of the Royal Academy, Piccadilly, London, until the 26th January 2020. Booking is advised. 

[jasminekee]