On Paper

Speaking recently about his early years as an artist Lucian Freud claimed, 'I would have thought I did 200 drawings to every painting in those early days. I very much prided myself on my drawing.' Drawing is fundamental to Freud's development as an artist and to how he sees in a way that that it was not, for example, at the foundation of the work of Francis Bacon. Drawing became an important part of Freud's life from the start and a famous sketchbook, The Freud-Schuster Book, dating back to January 1940 when Freud was in Snowdonia with Stephen Spender, has survived. So too do sketches from Freud's life as a merchant seaman on a cargo vessel in the Atlantic in 1941. His then surreal style lent itself to illustrations and his fascination with animals, birds and fish was revealed in the famous line drawings he produced for Nicholas Moore's book of poems, The Glass Tower (1944).

On Paper charts the works on paper, including the etchings, over his entire career. It includes the formative early work, the sketches in preparation for painting his masterpiece, Large Interior W11 (after Watteau) (1983), the sketches of the completed painting in the studio and the astonishing later studies of his mother. The book ends with the etchings of recent years. The works on paper are an extraordinary achievement, providing even deeper insights into the work of the greatest figurative artist of our time.


Introduction by Sebastian Smee

Essay by Richard Calvocoressi