Outline of the Topic
According
to Aspley (2010) Freud jump started a psychoanalytic critique of Surrealism
when he made a comment to the effect that what interested him most concerning
the Surrealists was their conscious rather than the unconscious. It was
regarded incorrect to regard Surrealist arts of work like poems as direct
reflections of the unconscious, when in real sense their directions are
dictated by ego activity. As pointed out by Conley (11), if viewed from this point of view, the works
of art produced by Surrealist could be said to be great works only that they
were products of the conscious rather than the unconscious mind. In that case
there was a great deal of deception amongst the Surrealists pertaining to
whatever they were doing with the unconscious. The unconscious is not believed
to express itself automatically though it can be unearthed through critical
analysis of resistance and transference in the process of psychoanalysis.
Surrealism
was a mass movement that emerged after the First World War and attracted
several participants. It was postulated
by Harper, that it was a disciplined and well organized movement (7). However
the movement became disoriented after the death of its founding father, Andre
Breton, in the eve of 1966. The movement accommodated many countries and
numerous forms of art like painting, sculpture, photography, cinema poetry and
theater.
Lucian Freud’s Early Paintings
The
Naked Man, the back view (1992-1993)
Freud’s main
intention and objective in his works was to capture the truth. His eyes could
perceive the weakness of any sitter. He found a comprehensive subject in Leigh
Bowery, in soul and in body. Some of the greatest portraits of his career
included a picture of a HIV positive British performance artist (Gayford 46).
The
Brigadier (2003-2004)
According
to Stark, this was a portrait of Andrew Parker that exhibited Freud’s
compassion for humanity (15). The portrait was an insolent, melancholy and
scathing study of the self. The former husband of Camilla, Parker Bowles,
evokes images of the 19th Century of soldiers and imperial heroes
using his red-stripped trousers. He however looks exhausted and macerated.
Reflection
of the Two Children (1965)
In
this painting, Freud is portrayed as a colossus towering over his twin kids.
This was a Freudian drama that was really disturbing and was also one of the
most haunting works of art. Most of Freud’s self-portraits will be viewed as
excellent work done by an artist. To explain his idea of self-portraiture, he
made use of a mirror and made a painting of the exact things that he saw
(Merlino 25).
Benefits
Supervisor Sleeping (1995)
This
is a modern day rejuvenation of the recumbent nakedness, which is a genre that
dates back to Titian’s Urbino Venus and Giorgione’s Sleeping Venus. Freud was
able to show that a painting can be immediate and at the same time timeless,
beautiful and original (Cooper 44)
The
Queen (2000-2001)
Freud
decided to paint the queen just like he portrays the ordinary people. This was
due to the fact that he never thought keeping the crown on in his portraits would
preserve the Shakespearean image of the complex royal head. In the face of this
portrait, he exhibits the age and anxiety elements.
Literature Review
Freud’s
initial works of art had some association with German Expressionism and
Surrealism in portraying human beings, animals and plants in some unique
juxtapositions. According to Schessler (2010), some of his original works give
life to the varied flesh tones of his advanced style as depicted by Cedric
Morris found in the National Museums of Wales in the 1940s. However after the
end of the Second World War in 1946, Freud developed a thinly painted concise
linear style with faded colors. This linear style was very evident in his
self-portrait “Man with Thistle” and other large-eyed effigies of his first
wife like “Girl with a Kitten”. These works were painted with small sable
brushes and reflected early paintings of Netherlands (McDaniel 34)
In
the 1950s, Freud focused most of his work on nude portraiture almost at the
expense of everything else. By the mid ‘50s, he was able to develop a more free
style which saw him use large hogs-hair brushes. This, as was pointed out by
Merlino (2010), produced works of art with a concentration of texture and flesh
taint that were intense and the paint was much thicker. Using this technique in
his works, he was able to clean his painting brush after every stroke while
painting the flesh thus ensuring that the color remained variable throughout
the painting process. Later advancements enabled him to paint while standing up
and subsequently while sitting on a high chair. While the tone of the flesh
color becomes high and variable, the colors of the non-flesh parts remain
typically muted (Gayford 26)
Zalman
(2007) postulated that Freud would later develop a style that he would use,
with few adjustments, for the remaining part of his career. By 1960, the
portraits made using the new style often used an extra life-size scale at the
beginning, though were majorly small heads or half-sized in length. Portraits
that were produced in the subsequent years were however very much bigger and
were appealing to galleries and collectors. In the sunset days of his career as
a painter, Freud produced an etching of a particular subject in varying pose
though with the sitter within his view and directly onto the plate.
In
some of his works in “Girl with a White Dog” (1951-1952) and “Naked Man with
Rat” (1977-1978),the portrait only depict the sitter who may be sprawled nude
on the floor or on bed or in some cases juxtaposed with something else. As was
observed by Edward Chaney, the unique recumbent manner that Freud poses several
of sis sitters is an indication that the conscious of the unconscious had
influence on both the psychoanalytical couch of his grandfather and of his
Egyptian mummy (Dodds 45) . His figures in dreamland whether clothed or nude,
looking into space and are later brought back into consciousness.
The
use of animate objects in his works of art is a common phenomenon as seen by Cunningham
(2010). In many of these compositions involving animals, Freud features the pet
and its owner. Some of the examples of works where Freud has combined both
human and animal figures include “Guy and Speck” (1980-1981), “Double Portrait”
(1985-1986) and “Eli and David” (2005-2006). Freud’s special passion for horses
was evident in several of his works, having been a fan of horse riding at the Dartington
School where he is reported to have slept in the stables on several occasions.
The portraits that feature horses majorly include “Grey Gelding” (2003), “Mare
Eating Hay” (2006) and “Skewbald Mare” (2004). In-house plants also featured
prominently in some of his portraits with some paintings being produced purely
of plants. Some of the works also featured mattresses and big piles of rags of
linen.
Conley
(2011) pointed out that Freud worked very closely with his subjects who were
often the people around whom his lived revolved. These included his family,
friends, fellow artists and children. According to Freud, the subject matter of
a piece of work was autobiographical involving hope, sensuality and memory.
However, a closer look at these pieces of work shows that the topics were in
most cases anonymous with the identity of the sitter being under cover. Freud
had dedicated over 4000 hours working on a portrait of his mother. This was a
moved which historians lauded at since it was more than 300 years since an
artist visualized his closeness and unending relationship with his mother
through his piece of work. Freud preferred to work on a particular subject
matter at ago. When working on a portrait of a model, he would demand for the
presence of that particular model even when furnishing the portrait’s
background. For instance, in a certain painting the artist took over sixteen
months working on the portrait though the model only made poses in four
instances.
During
his painting sessions, it was a routine to start by first drawing on the canvas
using charcoal. He would then apply paint to a little portion of the canvas
before embarking on the gradual outward working from that focal point. For new
comers in the sitting position, the artist would first begin with the head,
which he argued was a means of getting to know the person. As was observed by
Stark (2010) he would then proceed to the rest of the body, before embarking on
the head once more as his understanding of the model deepened. A portion of the
canvas would intentionally be left unscathed until Freud was through with the
piece of work at hand. This was to act as a reminder that the painting process
was still in progress. Gayford (2007) observed that Freud attempted to capture
the individuality of his model by his “omnivorous” gaze. Gayford, goes further
to point out that Freud’s final portrait sought to reveal some secrets
concerning ugliness, ageing and faults.
Freud’s
most regular model during his final years was his friend and studio assistant
named David Dawson. Dowson would then become the subject of Freud’s final
unaccomplished work. Towards his sunset days, Freud made a painting of model
Kate Moss. This artist would be known as the best British artist who had a
unique representational style, an attribute that would see him get listed in
1989 for the Turner Prize (Dodds 25). The “After Cezanne” painting (1999-2000) which
became notable due to its unique unusual shape would earn its place in the
National Gallery of Australia after it was bought for 7.4 million dollars. In
2008, The Independent obtained
letters that were written by Freud under the Freedom of Information Act,
detailing his squabbles with some of the powerful figures in the Art Industry
after he was requested to represent Britain a world leading contemporary
exhibition of arts, dubbed “Venice Biennale” in 1954. Freud however passed away
in July 2011 in London ((McDaniel 57).
Works
Cited
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2007. Art and Visual Perception: A
Psychology of the Creative Eye. Los Angeles:
University of California Press
Aspley, Keith. Historical Dictionary of Surrealism. New
York: Scarecrow Press, Inc, 2010. Print.
Conley, Katherine.
Women and Surrealism. Journal of
Surrealism and the Americas, 5.1(2011): 22-36.
Cooper, Jonathan.
The Art: In the Flesh-The Physical Fact of Lucian Freud. Los Angeles
Magazine,48.
4 (2003): 82-95.Print.
Cunningham,
Lawrence and Reich, John. Culture and
Values: A Survey of the Humanities. Boston: Cengage Learning, 2010. Print.
Dodds, Joseph. Farewell
Lucian Freud-Master Painter of the Subjective Body. Online Journal for the Psychological Study of the Arts, 1.2 (2011):
5-15.Print.
Gayford, Martin.
2007. Lucian Freud: Marathon Man.
[online]. Web.2007. 5th October 2012.
<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/3668104/Lucian-Freud-marathon-man.html>
Harper, Graeme
and Stone. The Unsilvered Screen:
Surrealism on Film. London: Wallflower Press, 2007. Print.
McDaniel, Bob. Psychological Effects of Art on Humans.
Kansas: Kansas State University, 2012. Print.
Merlino, Joseph.
Freud at 150: 21st Century
Essays on a Man of Genius. New York: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers,
2008.Print.
Schessler, Steve.
2010. Let the Impressions Come. Online
Journal of the Psychological Study of the Arts, 15. 2(2010): 12-23.Print.
Stark, Joachim. Elements of Surrealist Practices in
Contemporary Visual Art: Louse Bourgeois’Critical Reworking of Surrealism.
New York: New York University Press, 2010. Print.
Zalman, Sandra. Reception
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