Frank Auerbach Page 20
p. 152 Interior Vincent Terrace, 1982–84. Oil on board, 121.6 × 136.5 (47⅞ × 53¾). Private collection. Courtesy Marlborough
p. 153 The studio with Interior Vincent Terrace (1982–84) in progress, 1984. © Peter Wood
p. 155 Paul Cézanne, The Card Players (Les Joueurs de Cartes), 1890–92. Oil on canvas, 135.3 × 181.9 (53¼ × 71⅝). The Barnes Foundation, Merion, PA
p. 156 Tree at Tretire, 1975. Chalk and charcoal on paper, 77.5 × 72.4 (30½ × 28½). Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh. Courtesy Marlborough
p. 160 Page from letter to Miss Beston with ideas for Venice Biennale exhibition, 1984. Courtesy Marlborough
p. 161 Head of Jacob, 1984–85. Charcoal and chalk on paper, 86.4 × 70.2 (34 × 27⅝). Private collection. Courtesy Marlborough
p. 165 Frank in the studio, c. 1983. Photo Bruce Bernard. © Estate of Bruce Bernard
p. 166 Mornington Place – Morning, 1972. Oil on board, 101.6 × 127 (40 × 50). Private collection. Courtesy Marlborough
p. 173 Camden Theatre in the Rain, 1977. Oil on board, 121.9 × 137.2 (48 × 54). Private collection. Courtesy Marlborough
p. 174 Primrose Hill, 1979–80. Oil on board, 147.3 × 121.9 (58 × 48). Private collection. Courtesy Marlborough
p. 175 The Studios – Spring Morning, 1980–81. Oil on board, 121.9 × 76.2 (48 × 30). Private collection. Courtesy Marlborough
p. 177a Tree on Primrose Hill, 1987. Oil on canvas, 71.1 × 81.3 (28 × 32). Private collection. Courtesy Marlborough
p. 177b Drawings for Tree on Primrose Hill and From the Studios, with sketch after Titian, 1987. Photo Chris Steele-Perkins. © Chris Steele-Perkins/Magnum Photos
p. 179 Mornington Crescent – Early Morning, 1992–93. Oil on canvas, 122.5 × 147.9 (48¼ × 58¼). Private collection. Courtesy Marlborough
p. 180 Tower Blocks, Hampstead Road, 2007. Oil on board, 50.8 × 45.6 (20 × 18). Private collection. Courtesy Marlborough
p. 183 The Pillar Box, 2010–11. Oil on board, 55.9 × 55.9 (22 × 22). Private collection. Courtesy Marlborough
p. 186 Figure on Bed, 1968. Oil on canvas, 40.6 × 40.6 (16 × 16). Private collection. Courtesy Marlborough
p. 187a Head of J.Y.M. – Profile II, 1987. Oil on canvas, 51.1 × 55.9 (20⅛ × 22). Private collection. Courtesy Marlborough
p. 187b Polaroid photograph of J.Y.M. in pose, c. 1987. Courtesy Marlborough
p. 188 Julia, 1988–89. Acrylic on board, 81.3 × 81.3 (32 × 32). Private collection. Courtesy Marlborough
p. 190 Head of Michael Podro, 1981. Oil on board, 33 × 27.9 (13 × 11). Private collection. Courtesy Marlborough
p. 191 Lucian Freud, 1980–81. Etching, 15.2 × 14 (6 × 5½). National Portrait Gallery, London, purchased 1981. Courtesy Marlborough
p. 193 Head of Catherine Lampert, 1986. Oil on canvas, 51.4 × 47 (20¼ × 18½). Private collection. Courtesy Marlborough
p. 196 Head of David Landau, 1995–96. Graphite, white crayon, acrylic and Indian ink on paper, 76.2 × 57.5 (30 × 22⅝). The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Anonymous gift through British Friends of the Art Museums of Israel, in memory of Lily Sieff, B12.0254. Courtesy Marlborough
p. 197 Studio interior, May 1985. Photo Prudence Cuming Associates. Courtesy Marlborough
p. 198 Ruth Bromberg Seated, 2002–03. Oil on board, 61 × 56.2 (24 × 22⅛). Private collection. Courtesy Marlborough
p. 201 Self-Portrait II, 2013. Graphite and chalk on paper, 77.5 × 57.5 (30⅝ × 22⅝). Marlborough Fine Art. Courtesy Marlborough
p. 202 Reclining Head of Julia II, 1996. Acrylic on board, 50.8 × 63.5 (20 × 25). Private collection. Courtesy Marlborough
p. 203 Head of Julia II, 1999. Acrylic on board, 30.5 × 30.5 (12 × 12). Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek, Denmark. Acquired with support from The New Carlsberg Foundation. Courtesy Marlborough
p. 204 In the Studio, 2013–14. Oil on board, 50.8 × 50.8 (20 × 20). Private collection. Courtesy Marlborough
p. 206 Frank Auerbach outside the studio, 2009. Photo David Dawson. Courtesy David Dawson
p. 209 Chimney in Mornington Crescent – Winter Morning, 1991. Oil on canvas, 143.2 × 133 (56⅜ × 52⅜). Private collection. Courtesy Marlborough
p. 210 Reclining Head of Julia II, 2007. Acrylic on board, 55.9 × 76.2 (22 × 30). Private collection. Courtesy Marlborough
p. 213 Head of William Feaver, 2008. Oil on canvas, 55.9 × 51.1 (22 × 20⅛). Private collection. Courtesy Marlborough
p. 235 Frank Auerbach, Catherine Lampert and Leon Kossoff, dinner after the opening of ‘The Mystery of Appearance’ exhibition, December 2011. Photo David Dawson. Courtesy David Dawson
PERMISSIONS
The author would like to thank the following for their kind permission to reproduce copyright material: Hayward Publishing for Frank Auerbach, Arts Council of Great Britain, 1978; Thames & Hudson for Frank Auerbach by Robert Hughes. © 1990 Thames & Hudson Ltd, London. Text © 1990 Robert Hughes; the Estate of Judith Bumpus; Doris Downes Hughes for Robert Hughes’s interviews with Frank Auerbach and Estella West; the Estate of Estella West; Andrew Ranicki and the Estate of Marcel Reich-Ranicki; William Feaver for Frank Auerbach, Rizzoli, 2009; Yale University Press for Interviews with Artists 1966–2012 by Michael Peppiatt. Also, Richard Cork, John Tusa and the authors of other interviews.
Every effort has been made to contact the copyright holders of material in this book. If any have been inadvertently overlooked, the publishers will be pleased to make the necessary amendments in any future edition.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The images, documents and memories of those close to Frank Auerbach over many years have allowed the book to have an ‘inside’ feeling, and I am extremely grateful to Julia Auerbach, Jake Auerbach, Sarah West, Andrew Ranicki, David Landau and William Feaver in this regard. Kate Austin at Marlborough Fine Art has been an irreplaceable collaborator throughout the process, and the Marlborough records and images as well as the encouragement of Geoffrey Parton have been essential. As is obvious from the quality and empathy of the photographs, those who have made the records of Frank in his studio have been on his wavelength, and Virginia Verran, Frances von Hofmannsthal and the photographers Marc Trivier and David Dawson have been especially helpful. The same generosity is true of those who have interviewed him, several on multiple occasions, and I have drawn upon these records of life in the studio as well as comments by friends of Frank’s, many of them artists, over time.
Jacky Klein, formerly commissioning editor at Thames & Hudson, persuaded me to begin the book, and Roger Thorp extended the invitation. The contributions of the whole team at Thames & Hudson have been very valuable. At home I depend upon Andrew Dempsey as a reader and on him and Susana Lampert as supporters as I struggle to write.
Frank has sharpened the anecdotes and opened up with memories, participating in this book even when anything that is ‘looking back’ must seem unwanted; and he has understood that my desire to bring out a book that was accurate and used his words might enhance the pleasure people take in his art. I am lucky to have been sitting since 1978. It is an important part of my life.
David Dawson, Frank Auerbach, Catherine Lampert and Leon Kossoff, dinner after the opening of ‘The Mystery of Appearance’ exhibition, December 2011
INDEX
Page numbers refer to 2015 print edition
Abstract Expressionism 93, 94
Adelaide, Art Gallery of South
Australia 129
Aitchison, Craigie 85
Albers, Josef 37
Alloway, Lawrence 127, 133
Altenberg, Dr 14, 15
Altenberg, Heinz and Ilse 15
Amsterdam 154, 157
Andrews, Julian 158
Andrews, Michael 45, 69, 74, 85, 105, 108, 120, 120–21, 138, 140–41
Apollinaire, Guillaume 35
Appel, Karel 121
Armitage, Kenneth 69
Art Brut 66
Art Informel 66
Artaud, Antonin 94
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Arts Council 28, 68–69, 93, 140
Arts Council of Ireland 157
Atkins, Raymond 73, 75
Auden, W. H. 189
Auerbach, Charlotte (mother) 11, 12, 14, 15, 19, 163
Auerbach, Frank 7, 10, 12, 16, 17, 26, 81, 84, 102, 110, 118, 123, 134, 138, 165, 201, 206, 235; character and personality 6–9, 16, 50, 148–50, 162–64; childhood in Berlin 11–15; relatives and family history 11–15, 19–22, 76–80; at Bunce Court 15–19, 21–22; and poetry 18, 78, 120, 164, 189, 212–15; moves to London 21; as actor 21, 22–24; as art student 24–53; marriage to Julia Wolstenholme and birth of son Jacob 53; as teacher 72–75; building sites as subjects 55–62; sitters 87, 100, 103, 185–205, see also Mills, Julia Yardley Briggs (J.Y.M); West, Estella (Stella, E.O.W), etc.; ‘Fragments from a conversation’ 103–5; exhibits at Beaux Arts 66–71, 128; first one-person exhibition 121; exhibits at Marlborough 127–33; trips and exhibitions abroad 154–62, 208; landscapes and street scenes 171–82; paintings of women in rooms 182–84; retrospectives, at Hayward (1978) 6; at Marlborough(1964–5) 127–28; at RA (2001)207
WORKS: All Night Party 37; Bacchus and Ariadne 146, 147; Behind Camden Town Station – Autumn Evening 130, 132; Birth, Marriage, Death 37; The Bridge 182; Building Site, Earl’s Court Road, Winter 42, 44, 66; Camden Theatre in the Rain 172, 173; The Chimney, Mornington Crescent 137; Chimney in Mornington Crescent – Winter Morning 210; E.O.W., Half-length Nude 51; E.O.W. on her Blue Eiderdown 105–6, 107; E.O.W. Nude (1952) 38–41, 39; E.O.W. Nude (1959) 103; E.O.W., Nude on Bed (1959) 68; E.O.W., S.A.W. and J.J.W. in the Garden 111, 128; Euston Steps 150; Figures on Bed 186; From the Studios 176, 177; Gaumont Cinema, Camden Town 125, 126; Head of Bruce Bernard 135, 136; Head of Catherine Lampert (1985) 8; Head of Catherine Lampert (1986) 192, 193; Head of David Landau 196; Head of E.O.W. (1935) 52; Head of E.O.W. (1972) 116; Head of E.O.W. II (1964) 115; Head of E.O.W. III (1960) 91; Head of E.O.W. VI (1961) 122; Head of Gerda Boehm 101; Head of Helen Gillespie 129; Head of Jacob 150, 161; Head of Julia (1960) 88; Head of Julia II (1999) 203; Head of J.Y.M. 187; Head of Leon Kossoff 63, 65; Head of Michael Podro 190; Head of Paula Eyles 100; Head of William Feaver 213; In the Studio 204, 205; Interior Vincent Terrace 150, 152, 153; Jacob 150, 151; Julia 188; Julia Sleeping 150; J.Y.M. in the Studio I–VIII 128; J.Y.M. in the Studio IV 97, 98; Lucian Freud 191; Mornington Crescent – Early Morning 179; Mornington Crescent with the Statue of Sickert’s Father-in-Law III, Summer Morning 129, 130, 131; Mornington Place 137; Mornington Place – Morning 166, 167–68; Nude on Bed IV 68; Oxford Street Building Site 68; Study after Turner’s The Parting of Hero and Leander 56, 57; The Pillar Box 182, 183; Portrait of Leon Kossoff 34; Primrose Hill – Winter 137; Primrose Hill (1954–55) 61, 69; Primrose Hill (1958) 69; Primrose Hill (1967–68) 147–48; Primrose Hill (1979–80) 174; Primrose Hill, Autumn Morning 54; Rebuilding the Empire Cinema, Leicester Square 70; Reclining Head of Julia (1966) 202; Reclining Head of Julia II (2007) 210; Ruth Bromberg Seated 198; Samson and Delilah (two studies after Rubens) 149; Seated Nude (1955) 43; Seated Nude (1960) 90; Self-Portrait 84; Self-Portrait II 201; Shell Building Site: Workmen under Hungerford Bridge 71, 80; Shell Building Site from the Festival Hall 58, 59, 80; study for 58, 59; The Sitting Room 108–9, 113; studies for 110; Studio with Figure on Bed 1 97, 99; Studio with Figure on Bed 11 97; The Studios – Spring Morning 175; Study after Deposition by Rembrandt 80, 80–83, 82; Study after Titian I 143; Study after Titian II 143, 144; Study for fairground mural, 1949, for the ‘kindergarten’ in Earl’s Court Road 48–49; Summer Building Site 40, 41, 66, 104; Three Blind Men 36, 37; Titian, sketch after 176, 177; Tower Blocks, Hampstead Road 180; Tree on Primrose Hill 176, 177; Tree at Tretire 156, 157
Auerbach, Ingrid 78
Auerbach, Jacob (Jake, son) 53, 104, 150, 151, 164, 171, 192, 195, 199
Auerbach, Jakob (uncle) 14, 22, 77, 78
Auerbach, Julia (née Wolstenholme) 53, 86–87, 88, 89, 150, 158, 163, 168, 176, 184, 185, 188, 189, 192, 195, 202, 203, 210
Auerbach, Leo 78
Auerbach, Rabbi Mannheim (grandfather) 11, 77
Auerbach, Max (father) 11–14, 13, 15, 19, 20, 78, 163
Auerbach in the studio with portraits of Leon Kossoff made in 1954 64
Auschwitz (concentration camp) 19, 20
Automatism 93
Ayres, Gillian 86
Bacon, Francis 42, 45, 67, 69, 71, 120–24, 128, 133–35, 138, 140–41, 142, 143, 170–71, 208, 212; Double Portrait of Lucian Freud and Frank Auerbach 122–24, 123; Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion 45; Three Studies of Lucian Freud 124
Badsworth, Gwynne (later Angell) 16
Banks, Geoffrey 63
Barker, George 103, 120, 189
Barnes Collection, Merion, Pennsylvania 154
Barr, Jr., Alfred H. 31, 33, 93, 211
Bassano, Jacopo 144
Battye, John Christopher 86
Baxter, Beverley 24
BBC 23, 42, 159
Beauvoir, Simone de 59
Beckett, Samuel 92, 103
Behrens, Timothy 138, 140
Bentine, Michael 47
Berger, John 45, 69–71
Berkeley, Bishop George 29
Berlin 9, 11, 20, 22, 78, 79, 80, 137
Bernard, Bruce 135, 136, 189; Frank in the studio 165
Bernard, Bruce and Jeffrey 16
Beston, Valerie 128–29, 130, 160
Beuys, Joseph 162
Billen, Andrew 137
Black Mountain College, North Carolina 37
Blackwood, Lady Caroline 63
Bloch, Elise 19
Blum, Erika 19
Boehm, Gerd (Gerhard) 21, 79
Boehm, Gerda (née Reich) 21, 31, 77, 79, 100, 101, 128, 189
Bomberg, David 24–30, 32, 35, 37–38, 46, 55, 71, 94, 142, 147
Borchardt, Hans (uncle) 22
Borough Group 28
Boshier, Derek 127
Bowness, Alan 71
Bradshaw, Lawrence H. 108
Braque, Georges 62
Brent, Leslie Baruch 19
Brewer, Francesca 189
Brighton 114
British Council 140, 158
Bromberg, Ruth 192, 198
Bromley College of Art (later Ravensbourne College of Art and Design) 73, 168
Brueghel, Pieter 18
Bumpus, Judith 159
Bunce Court, Kent 15–19, 20, 21–22, 24, 55
Burra, Edward 22
Butler, Reg 76
Byzantine art 94
Cahiers d’Art 92
Cambridge Opinion 171
Camp, Jeffrey 74
Campbell, Brigid 157
Campbell, Patrick 120
Camus, Albert 59
Capote, Truman, In Cold Blood 129–30
Caro, Anthony 140
Caro, Gabriele and Lola 20
Caroline (sitter to Giacometti) 199
Caulfield, Patrick 127
Cézanne, Paul 46, 148, 154, 155, 189, 212, 214
Chagall, Marc 80
Chekhov, Anton 181
The Children’s Encyclopaedia 18
Christie’s New York 124
Christ’s Hospital (school), Horsham 106
Chrysler Art Museum, Massachusetts 68
Clough, Prunella 85
Cobden, Richard 130
Cohen, Bernard 35, 127
Cohen, Harold 74–75
Cohn, Leopold 19
Coker, Peter 35
Colburn, Keith 73
Coldstream, William 41–42, 45, 46, 55, 69, 71, 74, 75–76, 108, 121, 137
Colquhoun, Robert 120
‘Constable: The Making of a Master’ (exhibition) 62
Constable, John 62, 181
Contemporary Art Society 69
Cork, Richard 67, 125, 162
Cornwall 73, 85
Couch, Christopher 75, 189
Courbet, Gustave 108, 172, 200
Creffield, Dennis 28
Cripps, David,
Julia Auerbach 89
Cronin, Anthony 103
Cubism 24, 62, 71, 94, 208
Cunningham, Keith 67
Daily Express 124
‘Daily Express Young Artists’ Exhibition’ 63
Daily Sketch 124
Dalí, Salvador 157
Dark, Christopher 189
Darwin, Robin 42
Daumier, Honoré 182
Davis, Stuart 93
Dawson, David 139; Auerbach outside the studio 206; Frank Auerbach, Catherine Lampert and Leon Kossoff 235
de Kooning, Willem 69, 93, 94–97, 96, 147, 167
Deakin, John 119, 140, 208; Frank Auerbach in the Golden Lion pub, Dean Street, London 118; Wheeler’s, Old Compton Street, Soho 138
Degas, Edgar 104, 124, 158, 182, 184
Deighton, Len 30
Delacroix, Eugène 105, 211
Denny, Robyn 86
‘Dick Barton – Special Agent’ 23
Diego (sitter to Giacometti) 158, 199
Dix, Otto 142
Downes, Rackstraw 181
Drateln, Doris von 162
Dublin 124; Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery of Modern Art 157
Dubuffet, Jean 66
Duchamp, Marcel 76
Dunworth, Shane 189
Dürer, Albrecht 200
Durian, Wolf 14
Dyer, George 121, 122
Earhart, Amelia 124–25
Eckersley, Tom 24
Ecole de Paris 31, 140
Eichmann, Adolf 80
‘Eight Figurative Painters’ (exhibition) 142
El Greco 27, 212
Elderfield, John 94
Eliot, T. S. 35, 171
Elkins, James 168
E.O.W. see West, Estella (Stella, E.O.W.)
Essen, Folkwang Museum 162
Essex, University of 144
Essinger, Anna 14–15, 16, 22
Essinger, Herman 22
Everyman 21, 170
Expressionism 141
Eyles, Paula 100
Farson, Daniel 122
Fautrier, Jean 66
Feaver, William 192, 212, 213
Fell, Sheila 35
Festival of Britain 45
Financial Times 200
Finer, Stephen 189
Fischer, Harry 127–28, 129
Fisher, Sandra 189
Forge, Andrew 45, 68, 71, 85, 127, 142
France 20