.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Executed in 2001, Frank Auerbach's Head of David Landau II is a portrait of his friend, the businessman, art historian and former trustee of the National Gallery. Painted in a characteristically warm palette of yellows, reds and browns, the work offers a rich visual experience by an artist who had a masterful control of his medium. This painting reveals all manner of artistic gestures, from the smooth flourishes of paint that make up the shoulders to the rapid gestures around his neck. These are combined in the face, which is wonderfully delineated with the simplest of means in which the eyes, nose, ears and mouth are created with just a few strokes of the brush.
The spontaneous appearance of Head of David Landau II is totally at odds with the time Auerbach took painting it. This is something Landau noted, stating that "sitting two hours a week for two years resulted in a drawing. Maybe once every two or three years I say, 'that's a really beautiful picture' and he says, 'no'" (D. Landau quoted in C. Lampert, Frank Auerbach: Paintings and Drawings 1954-2001, exh. cat., Royal Academy of Arts, London, 2001, p. 30). Throughout his life, Auerbach worked on several different canvases at the same time, each with a different sitter, in order that he could come back to works after a period of time with a fresh perspective. David Landau sat for Auerbach every single Friday, beginning in 1984, as for the artist it was vital to build up a rapport with the sitter over a long period of time so that he could create a sort of psychological portrait. It is because of this that the painting so brilliantly captures the essence of Landau, revealing his confidence and self-assured manner, as well as the emotional bond that existed between artist and sitter, as Landau said 'it gives me an enormous amount of strength to know that Frank is there in a way, particularly at times that are very trying and very difficult' (Ibid., p. 30).
The spontaneous appearance of Head of David Landau II is totally at odds with the time Auerbach took painting it. This is something Landau noted, stating that "sitting two hours a week for two years resulted in a drawing. Maybe once every two or three years I say, 'that's a really beautiful picture' and he says, 'no'" (D. Landau quoted in C. Lampert, Frank Auerbach: Paintings and Drawings 1954-2001, exh. cat., Royal Academy of Arts, London, 2001, p. 30). Throughout his life, Auerbach worked on several different canvases at the same time, each with a different sitter, in order that he could come back to works after a period of time with a fresh perspective. David Landau sat for Auerbach every single Friday, beginning in 1984, as for the artist it was vital to build up a rapport with the sitter over a long period of time so that he could create a sort of psychological portrait. It is because of this that the painting so brilliantly captures the essence of Landau, revealing his confidence and self-assured manner, as well as the emotional bond that existed between artist and sitter, as Landau said 'it gives me an enormous amount of strength to know that Frank is there in a way, particularly at times that are very trying and very difficult' (Ibid., p. 30).