Portrait of Kitty by Lucian Freud, 1949
Lucian Freud (1922-2011) was a prominent British painter and draughtsman, specialising in figurative art. Born in Berlin, he later moved to Britain in 1933 to escape the rise of Nazism. Freud first studied at the Central School of Art in London before being granted full British citizenship in 1939. Freud left to study at the East Anglian School of Painting and Drawing in Dedham, spending 3 years there and studied under Sir Cedric Morris. He later studied at Goldsmiths’ College in London from 1942-1943. Freud started his career with heavy Surrealist influences with notable works such as his painting of his teacher 1940 and later a portrait of his then wife Kitty Garman 1949.
Girl with a Fig Leaf by Lucian Freud, 1947
Despite Freud being best known for his paintings, he was a prolific printmaker who made over x etchings in his lifetime. Starting printing in Paris in 1946 Freud quickly learned to love the medium and would often spend hundreds of hours on a single print, one of his earliest surviving prints is girl with a fig leaf. Freud was often dissatisfied with his earlier prints and would often destroy the etching plates if he disliked the final product. His self portrait: reflection (1996) is in the Tate collection among many other notable prints.