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Lot Essay
A keen draughtsman throughout his life, some of Freud's most poignant and observant works are those he did on paper. William Feaver explains the significance of the artist's drawings, stating 'Drawing permeated Freud's paintings and shaped his handwriting, setting things going and stretching the odds, resilient throughout' (W. Feaver, Lucian Freud Drawings, London, 2012, p. 11). Feaver continues that, as Freud put it, there is always 'potential' in his preparatory works. He states, 'the one consistent element is successive potential, both promising and realised; a sense of pressing ahead with some urgency' (ibid). There is an energy and dynamism that flows through Freud's lines, a naivety of form, which grants endless character and personality and identifies his works on paper by their unique style. Freud does not often concern himself with accuracy or perfection of form, instead he is concerned with impression and the sensation one feels when they encounter his works of art.
Formal education did not suit the young Freud but he was imbued with a love of poetry, his exquisite handwriting mirroring the rhythm of verse. The idiosyncratic calligraphy he developed informed his drawing, especially in the early years, as did his aim of achieving verisimilitude, whilst his poetry also fed his art. He admired the cartoonists Wilhelm Busch and Fougasse for their surreal-like characters and use of expression, the same qualities he admired in the Spanish master ElGreco's work. Here he saw the effect of drawing more heavily, of emphasising profiles and using the drama of light to capture his subjects. Freud also looked to the Dutch artists Bosch and Breughel and sought to capture the mannered stereotypes that featured in their works. In the late 1930s and early 1940s Freud's drawings outnumbered his paintings, with the artist frantically capturing all manner of things, continually exploring life and the manner in which he could express it. Feaver describes the young draughtsman's fervour, 'He became a seasoned scrounger and improviser, using paper from old albums found in junk shops and working with barge paint and Ripolin enamel rather than standard (and scarce) artist's materials', avoiding readymade kits, such as Windsor & Newton, which Freud believed tainted the idea of creativity (ibid, p. 12).
By the mid-1940s Freud was using a mixture of charcoal, conté and chalk on Ingres paper. The effect of carefully shading areas and highlighting with white crayon or chalk was highly dramatic and caught every texture and shine from the dew on ones face to the greasiness of their hair. He did a number of drawings in this technique, such as Head of a Woman 1944 (Private collection), Man with Folded Hands 1944 (The Devonshire Collection, Chatsworth), and Peter Watson 1945 (The Victoria and Albert Museum, London). One sitter he often depicted was Kitty Garman, his prime model, who he married in 1948, divorcing a few years later in 1953. Having sat for the artist for a number of years, Freud captured Kitty in a variety of manners, some drawings being accurately realistic almost cold and mechanical in technique, whilst other illustrations depict her as a caricature seen with exceedingly large eyes, thin eyebrows and plum lips, as seen in Dark Coat II 1948 (Private collection). It is unknown who the sitter is in the present lot; however the image is a particularly sensitive example of the work he did on paper in the 1940s. The model is depicted with her long flowing locks falling over her face, as she stares quietly down, a pose that Freud adopted a number of times, perhaps to ease the physicality of posing unmoving for his sitter or perhaps to reflect on the inner mind and feelings of his subject. The present lot is a particularly fine example of Freud's skill as a draughtsman and an observer of life, with the artist capturing a moment of quiet repose, the sitter absorbed in her own thoughts.
We are very grateful to Catherine Lampert for her assistance in preparing this catalogue entry.
Formal education did not suit the young Freud but he was imbued with a love of poetry, his exquisite handwriting mirroring the rhythm of verse. The idiosyncratic calligraphy he developed informed his drawing, especially in the early years, as did his aim of achieving verisimilitude, whilst his poetry also fed his art. He admired the cartoonists Wilhelm Busch and Fougasse for their surreal-like characters and use of expression, the same qualities he admired in the Spanish master ElGreco's work. Here he saw the effect of drawing more heavily, of emphasising profiles and using the drama of light to capture his subjects. Freud also looked to the Dutch artists Bosch and Breughel and sought to capture the mannered stereotypes that featured in their works. In the late 1930s and early 1940s Freud's drawings outnumbered his paintings, with the artist frantically capturing all manner of things, continually exploring life and the manner in which he could express it. Feaver describes the young draughtsman's fervour, 'He became a seasoned scrounger and improviser, using paper from old albums found in junk shops and working with barge paint and Ripolin enamel rather than standard (and scarce) artist's materials', avoiding readymade kits, such as Windsor & Newton, which Freud believed tainted the idea of creativity (ibid, p. 12).
By the mid-1940s Freud was using a mixture of charcoal, conté and chalk on Ingres paper. The effect of carefully shading areas and highlighting with white crayon or chalk was highly dramatic and caught every texture and shine from the dew on ones face to the greasiness of their hair. He did a number of drawings in this technique, such as Head of a Woman 1944 (Private collection), Man with Folded Hands 1944 (The Devonshire Collection, Chatsworth), and Peter Watson 1945 (The Victoria and Albert Museum, London). One sitter he often depicted was Kitty Garman, his prime model, who he married in 1948, divorcing a few years later in 1953. Having sat for the artist for a number of years, Freud captured Kitty in a variety of manners, some drawings being accurately realistic almost cold and mechanical in technique, whilst other illustrations depict her as a caricature seen with exceedingly large eyes, thin eyebrows and plum lips, as seen in Dark Coat II 1948 (Private collection). It is unknown who the sitter is in the present lot; however the image is a particularly sensitive example of the work he did on paper in the 1940s. The model is depicted with her long flowing locks falling over her face, as she stares quietly down, a pose that Freud adopted a number of times, perhaps to ease the physicality of posing unmoving for his sitter or perhaps to reflect on the inner mind and feelings of his subject. The present lot is a particularly fine example of Freud's skill as a draughtsman and an observer of life, with the artist capturing a moment of quiet repose, the sitter absorbed in her own thoughts.
We are very grateful to Catherine Lampert for her assistance in preparing this catalogue entry.