Author: College Entrance Examination Art Communication
Editor: Yitui YITUI
SIINCE2022
Art Push | oil painting master Lucian Freud
Art Push Culture
Freud (1922–2011), Britain's greatest contemporary painter. Born in 1922 in Berlin, Germany. Grandson of the famous psychologist Sigmund Freud. Keep observing with affirmative marks, over and over again. Hailed as the greatest artist outside of Picasso of the 20th century, he died at his Home in London in 2011 at the age of 88
David Hockney on Freud
The first time he asked me if I would like to be his model was a few years ago. At the time, I didn't stay in England long enough, my mother and I usually came every 3 months, and even shorter in London. So I replied, "I don't think I've been here long enough." "This time I came back to London in March and I said to him: 'Maybe I'll stay here.' Maybe I'll stay here long enough. At least we can get started. "That's how we started.
David Hockney modeled for Freud
His unique approach to painting is amazing. Because, taking your time means you can talk. If you're going to draw a guy in an hour, you can't talk to him at all because you don't have enough time and you have to look at his face. If you had a little longer time, you would have been able to talk, you would get to know him, observe his face, and do a lot of other things. Obviously, it was part of his approach to painting. You know, he sometimes looks very close. I guess he's looking at subtle differences that most people don't notice. But he was watching, he was staring, and he was getting closer and closer. Here, there is a power that can penetrate your body. I would be somewhat aware of this power, so when I modeled for him, I never dozed off, even though I was 65 years old. I feel like I can see that portrait is progressing and getting better and better. I think probably a lot of people don't want to spend that much time modeling. In this sense, I think that, in fact, a good portrait depends more or less on both the painter and the model.
His creation seems to be a dead end, and photographic techniques are chasing and intercepting paintings. They thought that photography could replace painting, but in fact it was simply not possible. Nothing can replace painting, nothing can. I believe this very much now. I mean, Lucien went through all of this, there was something else in photography, and he just continued to paint. —David Hockney
David Hockney by Freud
Frank Auerbach on Freud
I can only describe it in general; I am not a writer. When I think of artists, the first thing that comes to mind is their style of doing things. Matisse: Striving for excellence by giving shape to color; Michelangelo: evoking a strong, powerful and vibrant sense of sculpture by twisting the body (both in sculpture and in painting); Tingle: catching prey with a lasso made of wire, and so on.
Auerbach working photo
As for Lucian Freud's work, it reminds me of his concern with the objects depicted. If he was interested in the act of waddling, he would be desperate to tie a rope to his feet; he never cared about the safety of his behavior. Whenever his way of working became a fixed style, he would throw it aside like a bald pencil and turn to a practice that suited his needs better.
Frank Auerbach by Freud, 1975-1976
I never knew there was such an aesthetic. Unprocessed objects are not cooked to increase artistic seeability, are not wrapped in a brightly colored brine, and are not plated in so-called "compositions". Painting exists on the basis of the creator's passionate contemplation of the subjects depicted. It is this care that leaves us with works that people appreciate. It's like a miracle.
—Frank Auerbach
Yang Feiyun talks about Freud
It can be said that Freud was one of the greatest artists of the twentieth century, and his paintings had super expressive and spiritual value, and in that era, his artistic spirit had a great influence on Chinese artists. In the past hundred years in the world, there have been many important artists in Europe, and we have also introduced the works of some European artists to China, such as the master of art Baltis, Wise, etc., these artists have had a great influence on Chinese artists, such as He Duoling was influenced by Wise. It can be said that the artistic spirit of these artists has a great influence on us humans. From the late 1980s to the 1990s, Freud has become more and more influential in the world, on the one hand, the expressiveness of his paintings, the coldness and strength of his characters. Another aspect is his painting spirit, especially the vivid capture of people in reality, and the in-depth exploration of a spiritual state of people, so his death has caused a great impact on Chinese artists.
Freud at work
Last year, the Met of america held a solo exhibition of his, and I went to see it, and I was very touched, and he grasped the way he painted, the essence of painting, very well. I feel that I am influenced by him not in the form of painting, but in his painting spirit, his painting gives people a strong spiritual force, which is worth our deep consideration, I think I will inject more of this spiritual thing into my works in my future paintings.
——Yang Feiyun
Zhang Xiaogang talked about Freud
The first time Freud's work was seen was around the end of the 80s, probably in the magazine World Fine Arts. The impression about Freud was in a special feature column, with an early male avatar and two female figures published in addition to a special article. The female body may let me see more of the solid foundation and exquisite skills, and what attracts me most in addition to the portrait of the man is the superhuman temperament of the artist conveyed in the painting, which makes people feel a certain psychological strong touch. The artist was 30 years old at the time of the creation of this painting, and he was talented, sensitive, sharp and warm. In the Context of England, which has an excellent tradition of painting, it feels like a very good work, but who would have thought that this was just the beginning of a great painter?
I think the reason why the magazine wanted to introduce him at that time was probably because it could be summarized in "neorealist painting" for ease of discussion; second, his "oil painting skills" were naturally able to communicate with the values of Chinese academy art. Because one of the most important aspects of the impact of Western modernism on Chinese art academies at that time was the understanding of the "foundation of painting".
At that time, the most popular phrase used by conservatives was: "Picasso had a good foundation in sketching when he was young, so he achieved later achievements." "Based on the sensitive background of the time, this is probably also one of the reasons why the domestic push for Lao Fu despises Bacon and David Hockney as a representative of contemporary British painting? I wonder if Lao Fu knew that he had such a huge influence in China? Does he know how many Chinese artists he has revolutionized his understanding and confidence in painting?
Freud in the studio
Does he know that he, together with Richter in Germany and Bartius in France, was once used as a specimen to pave a "correct" and simple shortcut for artists trained by China's realistic art education to "enter the contemporary world" with traditional painting? An artist who devotes his life to the pursuit of frankness and fearlessness in the expression of the psychological reality of human nature, an experiencer who regards life as absolute loneliness, a chamber painter who was once marginalized by modern art in the West, and it is absolutely impossible to imagine that he played some kind of revolutionary role in China's academies in the 90s.
To be honest, there was a time when I was even a little reluctant to see Lao Fu's work. Because he had almost become a stick representing "correct" and "mainstream" realist painting in China, some people were beaten up in the media in the exhibition in the academy, resulting in many students, regardless of their temperament, as long as they painted modern oil paintings, they piled paint on the canvas to swing brushstrokes, from teaching to creation. However, how to truly face the loneliness and cruelty of human nature in art, etc., which he advocates and insists on, is often ignored by the fascination with his superficial oil painting techniques.
Then from 1992 onwards, I often met him in art galleries during my travels in Europe, but at that time I was being conquered by German neo-expressionist painters such as Kiefer and Richter, passing by Lao Fu like an old acquaintance, just "politely" stopping and looking with respect with his eyes for a while... It wasn't until 1995, at the 50th Venice Biennale that I also attended, in a special large exhibition hall, when I saw the large nude self-portraits painted by Lao Fu when he was 70 years old, and the huge nude oil paintings of his fat and thick male and female friends, I couldn't help but be deeply shocked!
beautiful 1985
They not only subverted my consistent impression of Lao Fu, but even refreshed many of my knowledge and understanding of modern oil painting. I can't tell whether the shock comes from the power of the painting itself or from the power of humanity that comes directly from the work—perhaps the two have always been the combined magic of Lao Fu. What is he trying to tell us when a teenager is romantic and beautiful, and then he is snubbed for a long time until he is recognized at the age of 52, and then he changes the law again at the age of 70, standing firmly in front of the world naked with an old man's body?
The essence of life is absolute loneliness, our bodies struggling desperately in entanglements, and the soul still seeps through its dark and anxious contradictions and helplessness in our bodies, even in such a fat body. At that moment I seemed to understand why the British historian Edward Lucifer Smith had to say this about him: "These works seem to paint a world in which human nature has lost all external resources and exists on its own."
——Zhang Xiaogang, "Let Life Experience Dignity in Solitude - A Tribute to Lucian Freud"
Mao Yan talks about Freud
Freud's departure was not so calm for this era. Prior to this, his career and the value of his works were repeatedly placed on higher heights, and students from the royal family to Tate and Pompidou to top collections all the way to China's art academies seemed to express a high respect for him. In addition, many details of the master's life have also constantly made the world look sideways, saying that it is confusing, it is not impossible, it turns out that the master still has so many secrets, it is really hidden and obvious.
Bella Freud Emerging British Costume Designer, Daughter of Lafayette, 1985
No matter how people speculate about all this, knowing or not knowing, interested and uninterested, the master himself is still going his own way, he does what he can do, and there is nothing wrong with it. In the studio, painting is everything, nagging and taciturn, painting to the end, it is perfect, he did it!
HM, Queen Elizabeth II, 2001 Freud and daughter
As we all know, a young genius, a very special family, the grandfather is one of the most influential figures in the field of human spirituality in the 20th century, when the grandfather died at the age of 17, he had inherited all the internal genes needed for a future master of painting. From the very beginning, the work rarely saw the innocent happiness of children, more isolated, depressed, sluggish and then unusually sensitive, and soon entered a kind of depiction of the spiritual psychology of persistent characters, very extreme and delicate, incredible talent, in that era, indeed he was none other than him. Even so, among the many outstanding depictors of an era, there will always be an alternative genius who will emerge almost unjustifiably, and for Freud, Francis Bacon, who is 13 years old, is too terrible, powerful and oppressive (and Baltis also has a high opinion of Bacon), and his works are ghostly, vitriolous, dark, tyrannical, and elegant, rational, and Sven.
As a friend, Bacon didn't even like Freud's paintings at that time, Bacon only liked the little portrait that Freud painted for himself (this work is still missing), how miserly narcissistic, no way! This so-called unequal influence between friends may be a fate, a test, and must also be a kind of hurt and torture in Freud's latent sense of self.
He refused to paint for the Queen 71 times
Bacon died in 1992, and the following year, Freud completed a self-portrait in the studio, 70 years old, with a spatula and a color palette in his hand, fully nude, he said: "Now, I can at least paint my own nude." Compared with the libertine skeleton of Bacon's works, it is strange - Freud shows the chaos and solidity of the vicissitudes, which is inexplicably sad and moving! In the past 20 years, the power of painting is still continuous, because it has been consistent, and it has realized the whole of the painting process with its own strength, so as to really remove delusions, to replace nothingness with a prudent face, and to create itself with concealment. Facing himself, facing the times he faced, not being swayed by the times, like Cézanne, Freud was a master who was extremely solid and complete in art history.
HM QUEEN ELIZABETH II ，2001
The influence of Freud's paintings in the Chinese academy system is still a classic. When I personally came into contact with Freud's album in my sophomore year of '88, I felt like I was shocked, as if I had never seen such a deep depiction of people. The way we shaped the image at that time was still scarce, basically light and dark, and the old-fashioned, other more classical masters were always far away, and the old-fashioned calculations were unattainable, and Freud's very direct and frank way suddenly appeared, which made us feel excited.
His painting process is clear at a glance in some of the early unfinished paintings, close up, contemplative viewing, cold layers of dissection, complex and clear meridians, and incomparable shaping. Although he himself was not too distracted by the humanistic light of the Renaissance and deliberately deviated from it, his early works were still in the same vein as the spiritual traditions of northern Europe, and all the way south, from Dürer to Munch to Otto Dix, from Titian to Huato, Courbet to Cézanne, in my opinion, Freud was almost a coordinate master, and the reason why it once became popular in the field of contemporary Chinese painting is a necessity.
The Queen painted by Freud
In the National Gallery in London, there is a hall with about 20 works by Freud, one of which is from 1988-89, a very full female nude leaning against a large pile of worn-out white cloth, these white dirty cloths that have been used by the master for a long time seem to be a sea of mountains, surrounded by the tired model, all of which are presented in the picture of the density and a kind of demanding expression of shaping, which is respectful! Completely integrated, the texture is not chaotic, not to paint smoothly (this is the way Chinese painters like), but to layer by layer, and repeat the cycle. His studio was like an old stage, with the usual props and the usual actors, long hours of staring, a solo rehearsal, the queen came too, it didn't matter if the painting was not good, he just finished the thing. The master's final representative work is the end of life, not bowing to anyone, turning his back, and the stage is still - the perfect curtain.
- Mao Yan, "Freud - Of Course the Master"
Liu Xiaodong talks about Freud
I was touched by the physicality of Freud's paintings, the gestures of the objects conveying the message created by the painter through physical dissection and brushstroke color, not only the looks of the characters — the bodies of men and women, the sexual organs of men and women, rags, sheets, floors, broken sofas, pillows, horse manes, dog hair, leaves and light – at the same time conveying something... After getting old, he has also been painting, more than 80 years old is still painting portraits larger than real people, there are constantly new works coming out, the old man is not easy, there is a stubbornness. His paintings sold very expensively, but the price of the paintings had little to do with him, and it is said that he painted for 10 and a half hours a day, 7 days a week, every day. He often paints two or three pictures at the same time, day and night, working from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., after a short break, and then from 7 p.m. to 11:30 a.m.
The Venetian exhibition included a late Freud painting "Benefits Supervisor Sleeping" (below), which is indeed a visual feast: rich and harmonious green-gray tones, thick and full of colors, like the texture of a carpet, telling the true meaning of color, the texture is slightly undulating, and the characters are immersed in color, which is a masterpiece of high integration of experiential skills and perception. There is also the nude self-portrait piled up in the color texture, the yellow gray tone makes people trance, the Freud in the painting is naked, holding a palette in one hand, holding a palette in the other, with a thick pile of paint that spreads out to the surroundings, and the people he painted are also piled up with this pile of things, and the abrupt and mottled colors reveal the secrets of the painter and the universe... Freud belonged to the last century, and if you ask him why he is so alive, I guess he can't tell himself? He is undoubtedly an example, a spiritual teacher, guiding how people can live.
Since the Western Renaissance, the aesthetic context with figure painting as the main line has been built by masters in various countries. Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, and France have led the way for a hundred years, except for the absence of the great Britain, and it is only today that England has made up for this course, and this person is Lucian Freud.
Freud's painting methods inherited Hals, Courbet, and Chardin. His spiritual appeal was inspired by Egon Schiller, Bacon, and German Expressionism. Because he did not fully pay attention to the color law of traditional oil painting, he painted the color of the most essential flesh of the Caucasian, reaching an unprecedented intensity. This intensity is built up by his narrow subject matter and a lifetime of concentration. This narrowness is also created by the structure of modern society. In modern society, the division of labor is becoming more and more detailed, and everyone can only display their talents in a narrow space, pursue the ultimate, and reach the peak.
Freud's paintings conveyed a profound spiritual intensity, touching a certain spiritual isomorphism of human beings, so that many paintings were reduced to ornaments of only artistic interest in the face of his intensity.
Lucian Freud is a monument that highlights the extravagance and pride of painting.
——Liu Xiaodong, "The Color of the Flesh and the Intensity of the Spirit"
About Freud
I think good portraiture must have something to do with the way it's realized.
—Lucian Freud
"I just want to paint the colors of life with paint. I have no interest in the independent thinking of how modernists use paint to express themselves. ”
—Lucian Freud
Freud's work has a strong sense of expansion, a distinctly close-up character. The extreme emotionality of the characters gives people a strange feeling, but it seems that everyone is familiar with it. He pays attention to his own personal experience. He paints the people around him in the studio, and since he is very familiar with them, there is no need for him to arrange the posture of the model, and he can reveal the truth of the inner world of the characters. Freud's large number of nude works, like his portraits, through his own unique understanding and control of art, reached a depth that is difficult to achieve in ordinary human painting.
His painting style has not changed much since the 1960s, as the painter himself said: "As I remember, I was always doing the same thing." However, it was this firmness that earned him great praise. Western art critics have always maintained enthusiasm and attention to Freud Jr.
One of Freud's major characteristics in art is to always maintain a state of isolation and relative isolation, away from the hustle and bustle of international art trends, to stay in his studio, and to persistently dig deeper into the field of human portraits. The structure of his paintings is tight and powerful, the carcasses he depicts are tight and full, and the brushstrokes are exposed, sometimes in a state of disorder.
He influenced a large number of artists, including David Hockney and Frank Auerbach. Of course, there are also many Chinese artists.
Freud
He has been hailed by the Tate as "the greatest artist outside of Picasso of the 20th century".
He died at home in London on 20 July 2011 at the age of 88.
Appreciation of Freud's works
Dream Education
Graduate School of Fine Arts of China
Official account
The official account has been banned
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