By By Hope Sardella, 2020
Lucian Freud, Naked Portrait, 1972-1973 oil on canvas 2’x2’; Tate Modern, London.1237 × 1330 (Links to an external site.)
Who made it?
The name of this particular artist for Naked Portrait, 1972-1973 Oil on Canvas caught my attention at first glance. Does the name is Lucian Freud, sound familiar? Yes, the last name Freud does stand out does it, Lucian Freud is very much so the grandson of Sigmond Freud, also considered to be the creator of psychoanalyst.
Lucian Freud may have a recognizable last name, yet his upbringing gave way for fertile ground for one of the worlds’ greatest expressionist painters. What impacted me the most about Lucian Freud was learning about his character firsthand from interviews with his friends in the documentary Lucian Freud the last genius of 20th-century Realist painting (Alex Perez realist painter (Links to an external site.), 2017). When Freud’s Assistant, David Dawson, was interviewed, he stated it was the fact that he intertwined his personal love affairs within his art, which made him the artist he was. Lucien’s attention to people that he gave his waking life reflected greatly in his work. The paintings of Lucien Freud have a level of detail, showing the human form in its full imperfectness.
As a child, Freud was not interested in formal school much and often received bad grades. Instead, the young Freud grew an attachment to the equestrian tender on his family’s property and began drawing horses first. Throughout Freud’s life, he states that it was this beginning fascination with animals that propelled him to continue with painting. It is also noted that Freud came from a wealthy upper-class family, so not fitting the mold of what his father wanted him to become as one of the other significant driving forces behind Freud’s transformation as an artist and not a Jokey for the horse races he was addicted to later in life.
Another significant feature of Freud was that it was noted that he was compelled to gamble his money on horse races, in order to lose all his money so that he could somehow find the inner drive or hunger to paint. It was almost the extreme sums of money that came from his record-breaking sale at auctions, which may have enabled a toxic lifestyle. It was noted that Freud illusiveness as a painter is what may have driven the sales up even more.
Although there was ample reasoning behind mister Freud’s mysterious persona. For, Freud was a man who was known to engage in love affairs with his subjects he would paint. Additionally, it is known that Freud has fourteen known children, but some say he has as many offspring as fourteen. I believe this somewhat complete analysis of the man behind the painter make one fully leave behind judgement, and preconceived notions of what one should be but what one truly is, which I believe if Freud was here today he would say that would be to be : animal.
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Kleiner, F. S. (2017). Gardner’s art through the ages: The western perspective (15th ed., Vol. II). Retrieved from https://ashford.instructure.com/
What is the subject matter?
I found this painting interesting because I wasn’t sure if this is how the artist felt about humans, if he felt they were more damaged then beautiful, or that the beauty is the damage.
References
Alex Perez realist painter (Links to an external site.), 2017, Lucian Freud the last genius of 20th century Realist painting. Retreived from Lucian Freud the last genius of 20th century Realist painting (Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.)
Kleiner, F. S. (2017). Gardner’s art through the ages: The western perspective (15th ed., Vol. II). Retrieved from https://ashford.instructure.com/