Footnotes

Provenance
Philip Holmes Collection, UK (a gift from the artist).
Thence by descent to the present owner.

Literature
D. Landau, Print Quarterly, Vol. II, London, 1985, no. 161 (illustrated p. 286).
W. Feaver, Frank Auerbach, New York, 2009, no. 19 (illustrated p. 238).
W. Feaver, Frank Auerbach, New York, 2022, no. 19 (illustrated p. 280).



Frank Auerbach's works on paper are a remarkable facet of his oeuvre, offering an intimate glimpse into his relentless process of observation and creation. A recent exhibition at the prestigious Courtauld Gallery in London dedicated specifically to his 1950s and '60s drawings sent shockwaves through the art world, shedding new light on this incredibly vital aspect of his artistic practice. Executed in charcoal, graphite, watercolour or ink, Auerbach's early works on paper are defined by an intense interplay of line and structure, where restless, interwoven strokes of black matter build form through ceaseless movement. Nude Seated on a Folding Chair, from 1953, is one of the artist's earliest works to embody his obsessive quest to bring out the essence of the subject through heavy working and re-working of the paper.

Having arrived in England as a Jewish refugee in 1939, Auerbach created this striking body of work on paper as a young artist in London in the years following the war. The result of months of intense effort, his impressive charcoal drawings were built up through countless sittings, with Auerbach tirelessly reworking each composition until he was satisfied that he had captured the essence of the sitter, and in some cases would cause him to tear through the paper, requiring patches before he pressed on. The physicality of his process is evident in Nude Seated on a Folding Chair, where layers of charcoal and coloured chalk create a rich, textured surface. In these early compositions, the figure seems to emerge from the deep black background, imbued with an almost sculptural presence. Each of Auerbach's subjects carries a sense of struggle and renewal, reflecting the broader Post-War context in which these works were created.

A mere three years after the present work was created, in 1956, Auerbach's first exhibition was held at London's Beaux Arts Gallery. By the early 1960s, he had established himself as a key figure in what would later be known as the 'School of London,' alongside Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon. While all three artists shared a deep commitment to capturing the essence of human presence, Auerbach's approach was uniquely defined by his expressive, thickly layered application of paint, his extraordinary draughtsmanship and the deep concentration on the same few recurring motifs, both human sitters and the familiar streets of London, a city that he remained deeply dedicated to throughout his life.

Over his lifetime, Auerbach was honoured with major institutional exhibitions, including seminal retrospectives at the Hayward Gallery in 1978 and Tate Britain in 2016. He was also chosen to represent Britain at the Venice Biennnale in 1986, where he was awarded the prestigious Golden Lion prize. His passing in 2024 marked the end of an extraordinary artistic legacy and Nude Seated on a Folding Chair with its powerful dark charcoal strokes, deliberate accents of white, brown and blue and intense overall energy is a strong precursor to one of the most significant British artist careers of the 20th and 21st centuries.