Other Current Exhibitions of Work by or about Lucian Freud

There are two other exhibitions of work by or about Lucian Freud (b.1922 – 2011) in London this month.  These are:

• Lucian Freud Drawings
• Lucian Freud: Studio Life - Photographs by David Dawson

Both have been timed to coincide with Lucian Freud Portraits at the National Portrait Gallery, London (9 Feb-27 May 2012) - see my Review: Lucian Freud Portrais at the National Portrait Gallery.

Lucian Freud Drawings

Lucian Freud

Startled Man: Self Portrait (for Equilibriad, 1948), 

1948 Pencil 22.9 x 14.3 cm (9.02 x 5.63 in)

on display in Lucian Freud Drawings

at Blaine|Southern Gallery

My first thought after I'd finished walking around the Lucian Freud Portraits Exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery for the first time was how few drawings were in the exhibition.

I couldn't quite fathom this as Freud has been renowned over the years for being an excellent draughtsman and his drawings are very well regarded.  On a personal basis, one of my favourite art books is Lucian Freud on Paper which is a big heavy volume which charts Freud's work on paper, including the etchings, over his entire career - so I have an inkling of just how many there are.

Then I discovered this exhibition!

This is the most comprehensive survey of works on paper by Lucian Freud. Beginning in the 1940s and spanning the artist’s career, Lucian Freud: Drawings brings together more than 100 works, many of which have never been shown in public before.

Blain Southern - Lucian Freud Drawings 17 February 2012 – 5 April 2012
6 Hill Street, London W1J 5NF

Encompassing more than seven decades, the works in this exhibition have been borrowed from museums, as well as from friends and private collections. Taken as a whole, the selection illuminates an aspect of Freud’s oeuvre that was often overshadowed by his painting, the truth being that to him, drawing was the essence of his practice from first to last.

I'm now going to a preview on Monday and will be reporting back next week before it opens on the Friday 17th February.

Note that entry is STRICTLY on a ticketed basis (timed slots). If you do not hold a valid ticket, you will not be able to gain access. Click here to book your tickets.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue, Lucian Freud: Drawings (£40), which includes new essays by William Feaver and Mark Rosenthal, adjunct curator of contemporary art at the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach, Florida.  I know I'll be buying a copy.

Lucian Freud: Studio Life - Photographs by David Dawson

The second is an exhibition of the last tranche of photographs take by David Dawson who is a painter and photographer and was also Lucian Freud's friend, model and assistant and then Studio Manager from 1990 until his death.

Hazlitt Holland-Hibbert - Lucian Freud: Studio Life - Photographs by David Dawson
30 January - 2 March 2012 Monday – Friday 10am – 5pm
38 Bury Street, St James’s, London SW1Y 6BB

This exhibition marks the release of the final set of photographs by David Dawson depicting life in Lucian Freud’s studio. Dawson has been photographing Freud exclusively since the mid 1990s and his daily contact with the painter has provided a compelling insight into the life of this intensely private artist.  

More about the photographs of David Dawson

• Dawson’s photographs of Lucian Freud were exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery  in London in 2004 alongside an exhibition at Hazlitt Holland-Hibbert, London. 
• A second series was exhibited in 2006 at Hazlitt Holland-Hibbert to coincide with the book, Freud at Work by Jonathan Cape.