Major drawings from his early work are devoted to illustrations or the study of horses’ bodies, and in his first painting of an animal, “Portrait with Horses”, painted in 1939, a person is depicted - supposedly Freud himself - together with four horses. The exhibition “Lucian Freud and Animals” in the Museum für Gegenwartskunst Siegen begins with these early pieces. Here, for the very first time ever, an exhibition is focusing on Lucian Freud’s animal representations as a stand-alone exhibition theme. 00As Lucian Freud himself stated, he “portrayed” dogs and birds. Their body structure, their facial expression, the look in their eyes, and especially the quality of their fur and feathers are observed, drawn, and painted with vigorous attention to detail. Both animal species, particularly dogs, accompanied Freud throughout his life and were present in his studio on a daily basis. Freud also painted deceased animals, such as a lifeless chicken in the painting 'Chicken on a bamboo table', and later also dead bats. Another early piece with a surrealistic picture composition, 'Quince on a blue table”, depicts the stuffed head of a zebra that the artist kept in his studio.00Exhibition: Museum für Gegenwartkunst Siegen, Siegen, Germany (01.03-07.06.2015).

British artist Lucian Freud is widely considered the most important figurative painter working today. His portraits may be physically unflattering to their subjects, but they are honest, frank, and unapologetic.

"A memoir about the author's relationship with renowned painter Lucian Freud that includes interviews with many close friends and family members as well as critical analyses of Freud's art"--Provided by publisher.

Witness unapologetic portraits and precision worthy of a laboratory in this exploration into the oeuvre of renowned figurative painter Lucian Freud. A master of the human form who applied the same frank style and psychological rigor to sitters as varied as the Queen, Kate Moss, and an obese and naked job center supervisor. Direct and disarming, Freud's portraiture penetrates beneath flaws and folds of the flesh to reveal what lies within.

“An extraordinary record of a great artist in his studio, it also describes what it feels like to be transformed into a work of art.” —ARTnews Lucian Freud (1922-2011), widely regarded as the greatest figurative painter of our time, spent seven months painting a portrait of the art critic Martin Gayford. The daily narrative of their encounters takes the reader into that most private place, the artist’s studio, and to the heart of the working methods of this modern master—both technical and subtly psychological. From this emerges an understanding of what a portrait is, but something else is also created: a portrait, in words, of Freud himself. This is not a biography, but a series of close-ups: the artist at work and in conversation at restaurants, in taxis, and in his studio. It takes one into the company of the painter for whom Picasso, Giacometti, and Francis Bacon were friends and contemporaries, as were writers such as George Orwell and W. H. Auden. The book is illustrated with many of Lucian Freud’s other works, telling photographs taken by David Dawson of Freud in his studio, and images by such great artists of the past as van Gogh and Titian who are discussed by Freud and Gayford. Full of wry observations, the book reveals the inside story of how it feels to pose for a remarkable artist and become a work of art.

A riveting life of the brilliant British artist, one of the greatest figurative painters of the 20th century.

A rich, penetrating memoir about the author's relationship with a flawed but influential figure—the painter Lucian Freud—and the satisfactions and struggles of a life lived through art. One of Britain's most important contemporary painters, Celia Paul has written a reflective, intimate memoir of her life as an artist. Self-Portrait tells the artist's story in her own words, drawn from early journal entries as well as memory, of her childhood in India and her days as a art student at London's Slade School of Fine Art; of her intense decades-long relationship with the older esteemed painter Lucian Freud and the birth of their son; of the challenges of motherhood, the unresolvable conflict between caring for a child and remaining commited to art; of the "invisible skeins between people," the profound familial connections Paul communicates through her paintings of her mother and sisters; and finally, of the mystical presence in her own solitary vision of the world around her. Self-Portrait is a powerful, liberating evocation of a life and of a life-long dedication to art.

"'Everything is autobiographical and everything is a portrait, even if it's only a chair.' Portraits were central to the work of Lucian Freud. Working only from life, the artist claimed 'I could never put anything into a picture that wasn't actually there in front of me.' Lucian Freud Portraits surveys his portraits and figure paintings from across his long career. Drawing together the finest portraits from public and private collections around the world, the book explores Freud's stylistic development and technical virtuosity. A series of previously unpublished interviews conducted by Michael Auping between May 2009 and January 2011 reveal the artist's thoughts on the complex relationship between artist and sitter, the particular challenges of painting nudes and self-portraits, and his views on other painters he admired. Freud's psychological portraits are often imbued with a mood of alienation. A private man, the artist's close relationship with his sitters was played out behind the closed door of the studio. Frequently there is the sense of an emotionally charged drama unfolding, but his subjects remain elusive. Sitters represented in the book include family members, particularly his mother, Lucie, and artists such as Frank Auerbach, Francis Bacon and David Hockney. In the early 1990s Freud produced a series of monumental paintings of the performance artist Leigh Bowery and Bowery's friend Sue Tilley, the 'benefits supervisor', examples of which are reproduced in this book."--Publisher description.

As intimate and meticulous as his revered portraits, Lucian Freud's magnificent paintings and drawings of plant life are gathered for the first time in book form. Lucian Freud's portraits are known for their spectacular detail and unflinching gaze. Although Freud brought the same qualities to his paintings and drawings of plants, flowers, and landscapes, these are largely unknown. This elegant book shows how working with plants emboldened Freud to experiment with style and composition. Reproduced in sumptuous plates that allow readers to indulge in exquisite detail, seventy-five works--including Two Plants, Bananas, Cyclamen, The Painter's Garden, and Interior at Paddington--reveal Freud's singular approach to plant life. Readers unfamiliar with this aspect of Freud's work will find many similarities to his portraits--earthy palettes, unconventional rawness, and assiduous attention to detail. From the delicate realism of the cyclamens' petals to the bold brushstrokes that immortalize his overgrown garden, readers will appreciate Freud's ability to portray plants in new and personal ways. Comparative illustrations from throughout art history accompany essays on the history of plants in art and an appreciation of Freud's oeuvre. This monograph is a tremendous contribution to Freud's legacy, one that will enrich his admirers' discernment while also introducing his thoroughly original depictions of plants to a new audience.

This volume, with more than 400 reproductions, will be the most comprehensive publication to date on Lucian Freud, covering a span of seventy years and including many works not previously reproduced. The result is a corpus of great works that reveal him to be the premier heir today of Rembrandt, Courbet, and Cézanne. The book includes not only Freud’s paintings but also his sketches, woodcuts, and powerful etchings. While the bulk of his paintings are female nudes, his cityscapes, plant studies, and interiors, executed in his distinctive muted palette and visible brushwork, are all included. Freud, who has lived in London ever since his family left Berlin in 1933 when he was ten, has achieved preeminence through his ruthless perception of the human form. His importance has long been recognized in England, but his present super-celebrity status dates from a retrospective at the Hirshhorn in Washington, D.C., in 1987. William Feaver, painter and for many years art critic for The Observer, provides a unique account of Freud’s preoccupations and achievement. Startling, moving, profoundly entertaining, the book lives up to Freud’s advice to students when getting them to paint self-portraits: “To try and make it the most revealing, telling, and believable object. Something really shameless, you know.”