In the light of recent inexplicable tragedies, I just wanted to dedicate some space to the legend that was Lucien Freud. It was always a joy for me to be at a modern art museum and turn a corner to see one of his paintings in the midst of mixed collections........ and learn that he constantly worked on 2 paintings at once - one in daylight and one in artificial light.
Here are some different various clippings I have been collecting to keep in a book that I got from a retrospective at Fondazione Musei Civici Venezia and a couple of photos from one of my Cecil Beaton books........ which relate to this lovely quote from the obituary in last week's Independent by Richard Calvocoressi:
".....photographs of Freud at the period suggest strikingly romantic looks: a lean, intelligent alert face crowned with a mop of dark curls. Ever the dandy, when not painting Freud favoured tailor-made suits in the finest cloth or cashmere, silk shirts worn with scarves of the most discreet hue, and hand made shoes."
Ive also picked out this line which is a nice, neat description of his approach / process :
"Freud never worked from photographs but only from the living model, scrutinising every nuance and inflection of this sitter's appearance close up. His penetrating gaze seemed to probe beneath the skin, exposing a landscape of muscle, bone, blood and flesh - each blotch, bruise and swelling recreated in a palette of grey-blue, yellow and red"
But the best quote is from the man himself:
"As far as I am concerned, the paint is the person. I want it to work fro me just as flesh does".
To read Bella Freud's dedication to her dad, head over to the Vogue blog ........ which is very, very sad as her mother died only four days after her father .......
