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Acquavella Galleries is pleased to announce Lucian Freud
Drawings, the most comprehensive survey of works on paper by Lucian
Freud ever exhibited in the United States, from May 1–June 9, 2012.
Curated by William Feaver, the exhibition will include over eighty works
spanning from 1940 to the present day, many on loan from prestigious public
and private collections. The show aims to present Freud's drawings, often
overshadowed by his paintings, as a fundamental aspect of the artist's
oeuvre. Lucian Freud Drawings was organized in cooperation with
Blain|Southern in London, where it was on view from February 14 through
April 5, 2012, coinciding with a major retrospective of Freud's paintings
at The National Portrait Gallery.
The works in Lucian Freud
Drawings range from intimate portraits of Freud's family and friends to
landscapes and studies of animals. A wide variety of mediums will be on
view including charcoal, pastel, conté, pen and ink, crayon, etching
and watercolor. The works on paper will also be juxtaposed alongside
Freud's oil paintings to demonstrate how each medium influenced the
other.
Many of the works were selected by the late artist from
sketchbooks and have never been before exhibited. Freud stated "I very much
prided myself on my drawing" and understood his drawings to be absolutely
integral to his paintings. The exhibition traces Freud's development from
early childhood sketches begun in 1930 through work from 2011, the last
year of his life. Though Freud's drawing output became less prolific in the
early 1950s, when he began concentrating primarily on painting, the
exhibition includes important works on paper from all periods of the
artist's life. The show also covers his work in etching, including his
experimentation with the medium in the late 1940s and his more extensive
work in etching beginning in the 1980s.
Lucian Freud
Drawings represents Acquavella Galleries' fifth exhibition of the
artist's work. "We were the exclusive representative for Lucian Freud for
nineteen years, a relationship that became an enduring friendship,"
explained William Acquavella. "We began the conversation about this
exhibition several years ago and he was an enthusiastic collaborator,
helping to locate major works on paper particularly from the early days of
his career. Sadly he did not live to see this exhibition which we hope will
establish that, while Freud has been justifiably celebrated as the greatest
figurative painter of his generation, his graphic work deserves no less
acclaim."
Lucian Freud (1922–2011) was born in
Berlin and later emigrated with his family to England. Internationally
renowned as a portrait painter, he has painted notable figures including
The Queen of England, Lord Rothschild, Baron Thyssen-Bornemisza, Kate Moss,
and fellow artists David Hockney and Francis Bacon. Freud has been
the subject of numerous museum retrospectives and exhibitions, including
shows at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, the Museum of Modern Art in
New York, the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin, the Museo Correr in
Venice, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Whitechapel Art Gallery
in London, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, DC, the
Tate Britain, and the Scottish National Gallery of Art.
Lucian Freud Drawings will be accompanied by a fully illustrated
catalogue, which will include new essays by William Feaver and Mark
Rosenthal, the adjunct curator of contemporary art at the Norton Museum of
Art.
For more information please contact
Prentice Art
Communications
212 228 4048 or Bettina@PrenticeArt.com
*Image above:
Lucian Freud, Dark Coat II, 1948.
Pencil on paper. 11 3/8 x 8 3/8 inches.
Private Collection. © The
Lucian Freud Archive.
Photo © The Lucian Freud Archive.
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