Overview

Full Product Details

9780714875262

Table of Contents

Reviews

His charisma was crucial to his method. It was what made his models bear happily the long ordeal of sitting for him, and therefore what afforded Freud the opportunity to observe his subjects at length - picking up on every twitch of a facial muscle, every iteration of how a subcutaneous layer of thigh fat bulged through a sitter's skin. -David Kamp, Vanity Fair Provoking, vital, engrossing, gorgeously produced, revelatory even to Freud fans, and a joyous contribution to scholarship, this extravagant two-volume retrospective includes little-seen, privately owned work spanning seven decades, early illustrated letters, the first publication of Freud's rarest etchings, stories of sitters from loves to bookmaker and bank robber. My art book of the year. -Financial Times He succeeds in doing what very few artists have ever done - to somehow suggest the many layers of contradictory experiences and impulses that go into the make-up of a flawed, human, and highly complex man. -Richard Dormont, Telegraph Stark and revealing... Recast the art of portraiture and offered a new approach to figurative art. -New York Times The original, unnerving, sustained artistic achievement of Lucian Freud... had at its heart a wilful, restless personality, fired by his intelligence and attentiveness and his suspicion of method, never wanting to risk doing the same thing twice. -Guardian A massive, two-volume monograph... Shin[es] a spotlight on his early work... [and] includes work from Freud's entire career. -Bloomberg.com There should still be room on my coffee table for a handsome new picture book or two - and a double-volume set on Lucian Freud reproduces many rarely seen early works. Thoughtfully selected by artist David Dawson, one-time model and assistant to Freud, and narrated by Martin Gayford, it will undoubtedly prove popular. -Vanity Fair on Art An elegant two-volume, slip-cased monograph that celebrates artist Lucian Freud's many-decade-spanning career. -Publishers Weekly Stunning... Sure to delight those in search of a full picture of the artist's output. -Artists & Illustrators There should still be room on any coffee table for a handsome new picture book or two-and a double-volume set on Lucian Freud reproduces many rarely seen early works. Thoughtfully selected by the artist David Dawson, one- time model and assistant to Freud, and narrated by Martin Gayford, it will undoubtedly prove... Popular. -Vanity Fair Online There is a precision and grandeur about this new monograph [...] that is all of a piece with Freud's modus operandi. Like everything that the painter had around him, it is beautifully made: a luxury item, cloth-bound in two ledger-sized volumes with superb colour reproductions... These two volumes - which contain a mixture of old and new material - reset the balance between Freud's strategy of control and our prurient desire to understand (and judge) for ourselves the process of how he got these pictures. They provide a comprehensive overview of how Freud worked, linking the drawings and etchings that were made around and after particular portraits... Gayford draws on his own back catalogue and the established sources [...] to weave a fluent text that is footnote-free and cautiously expansive... Freud's death leaves Gayford freer to explore his subject's psychology... Freud steps forward into sharper focus than we have seen before. We see more of the methodology by which he achieved a genius-reputation approaching that of his famous grandfather, creating a new genre of self-projecting portraiture while keeping his secrets close. -Times Literary Supplement

His charisma was crucial to his method. It was what made his models bear happily the long ordeal of sitting for him, and therefore what afforded Freud the opportunity to observe his subjects at length - picking up on every twitch of a facial muscle, every iteration of how a subcutaneous layer of thigh fat bulged through a sitter's skin. --David Kamp, Vanity Fair He succeeds in doing what very few artists have ever done - to somehow suggest the many layers of contradictory experiences and impulses that go into the make-up of a flawed, human, and highly complex man. --Richard Dormont, Telegraph Stark and revealing... Recast the art of portraiture and offered a new approach to figurative art. --New York Times The original, unnerving, sustained artistic achievement of Lucian Freud... had at its heart a wilful, restless personality, fired by his intelligence and attentiveness and his suspicion of method, never wanting to risk doing the same thing twice. --Guardian A comprehensive look at the work of Lucian Freud, with beautiful new photography and access to his private correspondence and unfinished final works. --HouseandGarden.co.uk

His charisma was crucial to his method. It was what made his models bear happily the long ordeal of sitting for him, and therefore what afforded Freud the opportunity to observe his subjects at length - picking up on every twitch of a facial muscle, every iteration of how a subcutaneous layer of thigh fat bulged through a sitter's skin. --David Kamp, Vanity Fair He succeeds in doing what very few artists have ever done - to somehow suggest the many layers of contradictory experiences and impulses that go into the make-up of a flawed, human, and highly complex man. --Richard Dormont, Telegraph Stark and revealing... Recast the art of portraiture and offered a new approach to figurative art. --New York Times The original, unnerving, sustained artistic achievement of Lucian Freud... had at its heart a wilful, restless personality, fired by his intelligence and attentiveness and his suspicion of method, never wanting to risk doing the same thing twice. --Guardian A comprehensive look at the work of Lucian Freud, with beautiful new photography and access to his private correspondence and unfinished final works. --HouseandGarden.co.uk A massive, two-volume monograph... Shin[es] a spotlight on his early work... [and] includes work from Freud's entire career. --Bloomberg.com This fall I'm looking forward to [...] indulging in a Freudian fantasy thanks to a very special two-volume book celebrating British artist Lucian Freud - who painted an iconic nude of the ultimate figure of desire, Kate Moss, in 2002 - and his work from the 1930s to his death in 2011. --Porter [A] major new monograph on the artist. --Artsy A massive, two-volume monograph... shin[es] a spotlight on his early work... [and] includes work from Freud's entire career. --Bloomberg Hundreds of rarely seen works in two massive volumes... Excellent. --Departures With nearly 500 illustration to make its case, this publication is the most comprehensive survey of Lucian Freud's artistic achievements to date ? and looks set to reinforce his primacy amongst post-war painters. --Apollo Magazine Hundreds of rarely seen works in two massive volumes... Excellent. --Bloomberg Businessweek Exquisite. --Tatler.com There should still be room on my coffee table for a handsome new picture book or two ? and a double-volume set on Lucian Freud reproduces many rarely seen early works. Thoughtfully selected by artist David Dawson, one-time model and assistant to Freud, and narrated by Martin Gayford, it will undoubtedly prove popular. --Vanity Fair on Art Stunning... Sure to delight those in search of a full picture of the artist's output. --Artists & Illustrators

His charisma was crucial to his method. It was what made his models bear happily the long ordeal of sitting for him, and therefore what afforded Freud the opportunity to observe his subjects at length - picking up on every twitch of a facial muscle, every iteration of how a subcutaneous layer of thigh fat bulged through a sitter's skin. --David Kamp, Vanity Fair He succeeds in doing what very few artists have ever done - to somehow suggest the many layers of contradictory experiences and impulses that go into the make-up of a flawed, human, and highly complex man. --Richard Dormont, Telegraph Stark and revealing... Recast the art of portraiture and offered a new approach to figurative art. --New York Times The original, unnerving, sustained artistic achievement of Lucian Freud... had at its heart a wilful, restless personality, fired by his intelligence and attentiveness and his suspicion of method, never wanting to risk doing the same thing twice. --Guardian A comprehensive look at the work of Lucian Freud, with beautiful new photography and access to his private correspondence and unfinished final works. --HouseandGarden.co.uk A massive, two-volume monograph... Shin[es] a spotlight on his early work... [and] includes work from Freud's entire career. --Bloomberg.com

His charisma was crucial to his method. It was what made his models bear happily the long ordeal of sitting for him, and therefore what afforded Freud the opportunity to observe his subjects at length - picking up on every twitch of a facial muscle, every iteration of how a subcutaneous layer of thigh fat bulged through a sitter's skin. --David Kamp, Vanity Fair He succeeds in doing what very few artists have ever done - to somehow suggest the many layers of contradictory experiences and impulses that go into the make-up of a flawed, human, and highly complex man. --Richard Dormont, Telegraph Stark and revealing... Recast the art of portraiture and offered a new approach to figurative art. --New York Times The original, unnerving, sustained artistic achievement of Lucian Freud... had at its heart a wilful, restless personality, fired by his intelligence and attentiveness and his suspicion of method, never wanting to risk doing the same thing twice. --Guardian

Author Information

Writer Martin Gayford is the art critic for The Spectator magazine. He sat for a portrait by Lucian Freud in 2003-5, an experience he recounted in Man with a Blue Scarf (2010). He co-authored A History of Pictures: from Cave to Computer Screen with David Hockney (2016), and co-authored Rendez-vous with Art with Philippe de Montebello, former Director of The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available