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Lot 19AR
Lucian Freud(1922-2011)Head Of Man, 1986-87
7 – 16 April 2025, 12:00 BST
Online, London, New Bond StreetSold for £8,576 inc. premium
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Lucian Freud (1922-2011)
Head of a Man, 1986-87
signed with the initials and numbered 11/20 in pencil
etching
50.6 x 44cm (19 15/16 x 17 5/16in).
Co-published by James Kirkman and Brooke Alexander, London and New York
signed with the initials and numbered 11/20 in pencil
etching
50.6 x 44cm (19 15/16 x 17 5/16in).
Co-published by James Kirkman and Brooke Alexander, London and New York
Footnotes
Literature
Starr Figura, Lucian Freud The Painter's Etchings, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2007, no. 66.
Lucian Freud, renowned for his portraiture, depicts Angus Cook, poet and film-maker and frequent sitter for the artist. Cook was also captured in a charcoal drawing which is in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York.
Freud's life-long interest in human anatomy is prevalent in this etching portrait, as the subject is depicted close-up and tightly cropped, allowing Freud to focus anatomically on the face. Freud intensely observes and attentively illustrates the sinuous lines of the sitter's hair, modulation to the forehead and cheeks, with his masterful hatching technique creating depth throughout the composition.
Lucian Freud commented, "My work is purely autobiographical. It is about myself and my surroundings. It is an attempt at a record. I work from the people that interest me and that I care about, in rooms that I live in and know."
He required his models to pose for many hours, in some cases weeks, months or even years. Angus Cook is portrayed with heavy eyelids and a downward gaze. Perhaps, Cook suffers from studio fatigue in this image or perhaps he is daydreaming. Freud captures a private, informal and intimate moment between the artist and the sitter.