Customer Reviews

Lucian Freud

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The book opens with an essay by William Feaver; personal and enlightening it makes fascinating reading; the writer has clearly known the artist for some time. Feaver conveys a clear picture of the artist, his background and training, and his approach to his work. Also included are four conversations between Fever and Lucian Freud: November 1992 (appeared The Observer December 1992), April 1998 (The Observer May 1998), November 2001 (on John Constable) and February 2007. The book concludes with a List of Illustrations, fairly brief Chronology and a Bibliography.

This book is illustrated throughout in full-colour including the black and white drawings but not the etchings, which alone are reproduced in black and white half-tone. There are 362 illustrations in the Plates section with many more pictures accompanying the essay.

This large format book comes in a very substantial slip-case. The outstanding feature of the book however is the reproduction of the paintings; mostly full-page in size, with many bleed images and several double-page spreads. The work is arranged chronologically with the earliest dating from 1939 up to 2006; almost entirely portraits, figures or groups, there is the occasional still life and a few scenes. An impressive and beautiful book superbly illustrated, it is to be highly recommended.

This is a very nice reprint in a slipcase version. Its artwork chronicles up throgh 2006. I have the old Random House slip case book from 1996 with an intro by Bernard. The reproductions up through '96 are almost all the same. The Random House versions images are about 20 percent bigger. This new book has three nice interviews with Freud. This version has about 75 paintings beyond the 1996 version. Not enough for me to keep the book, but If you are looking for the best catalog of his work, this is it. Get it now, it will go out of print and a book shark will be happy to sell it to you at 5 times its current price.

Among the many publications available on the British master, this one is undoubtedly the best. Written by a specialist of Freud's art, it is almost a catalogue raisonné and follows a chronological pattern that starts with the early paintings from the 1940's and ends with the latest works from 2007. Especially interesting are the various interviews of the artist that give invaluable insight on his working methods and how he views his own art. All the illustrations are in full color and enable the reader to distinguish the thick and brutal brushstrokes of the painter and his ability to extract the beauty in the ugliness of the human being.

A tour de force of an artbook.

The most impressive thing on Freud's art is definitely the awesome technique he developed. I like, that this book shows you his first works (by the time he had 16-18 years old) where you get to see his improvement over time. The slipcase is nice. There are few close ups with some details and brushwork magnified.

This book and the Odd Nerdrum's one for me are the best buys I've made on Amazon.

From the news release: 'Lucian Freud, widely acknowledged as one of the greatest, most influential and yet most controversial British painters of his era, has died at his London home. News of his death, at the age of 88, was released by his New York art dealer, William Acquavella. The realist painter, who was a grandson of the psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, had watched his works soar in value over recent years and, in 2008, his portrayal of a large, naked woman on a couch - Benefits Supervisor Sleeping - sold at auction for £17m, a record price for the work of a living artist. Born in Berlin, Freud came to Britain in 1933 with his family when he was 10 years old and developed his passion for drawing. After studying at art school, he had a self-portrait accepted for Horizon magazine and, by the age of 21, his talent had been recognised in a solo show. He returned to Britain after the war years to teach at the Slade School of Art in London. Over a career that spanned 50 years, Freud became famous for his intense and unsettling nude portraits. A naturalised British subject, he spent most of his working life in London and was frequently seen at the most salubrious bars and restaurants, often in the company of beautiful young women such as Kate Moss, who he once painted. A tweet from the writer Polly Samson last night reported that Freud's regular table in The Wolseley restaurant was laid with a black tablecloth and a single candle in his honour.'

The director of the Tate gallery, Nicholas Serota, said last night: "The vitality of [Freud's] nudes, the intensity of the still life paintings and the presence of his portraits of family and friends guarantee Lucian Freud a unique place in the pantheon of late 20th century art. His early paintings redefined British art and his later works stand comparison with the great figurative painters of any period.' And surely anyone who has had the privilege of standing before Lucian Freud's art in museum exhibitions will attest to the power of his work. Freud, as much as any painter of the figure today, observed the model not only as a posed subject, but also as a representation of humanity. Often his models were massively overweight as though excess flesh was enchanting to him. But no matter how we each see Freud's work, it does impact us in a visceral way. From his very tiny portrait of Francis bacon's head to the memorable portrait of Queen Elizabeth II to the multiple images of the Leigh Bowery 'portfolio' or his infamous 'Benefits Supervisor Sleeping', his ability to sculpt with paintbrush and palette knife was extraordinary.

This book gives a fairly wide spectrum of the artist's output, though it is in no way complete. Freud's output was enormous - in size and in quantity - and we are left with the works of an artist who will always be remembered for his bravery and even audacity to paint what he saw coupled with what he felt. as art critic Tim Marlow stated 'Freud was a very special man. He looked at the world was as if he was painting it but when you saw his paintings you saw how he really saw it.' He will be much missed. Grady Harp, July 11

I am a russian painter, so i am not good in english. Freud was unknown artist for USSR and almost unknown for modern russia. Rhis book ia a gra chance to aware about his art. Book is well printed and well illustrated, If yuo have come pracrice in painting yuo can understand ane brush movie of Freud.
Now rhis book is wery cheap soi I highly recommen it to my friends.

Well, this is a nice and huge book and also a corner stone for everyone who know the master's work but; an editor's decision has made some damages to the whole work. the decision of using the double spread pages, instead of fold-in pages of course was cheaper but, it can be seen in many of this pages, several (and in some cases severe)diferences of colors and lines from one to another page. The hugeness of the book also make dificult to follow the painting as a whole. In my opinion, this detail makes the book plates, hard to read and it seem to me that it's the first objet to be appreciate in an art book. On the other hand,the inclusion of many etchings and several unfinished works, revealing some details of the painting process of the master; give to this book something authoritative and almost complete about Freud's work, with lucid interviews and fragments of conversations between the authors and the painter that give insights into the creative and personal life and circumstances on the master's creative process. Good book in my opinion, but...