Artist 14: Lucian Freud

Lucian Freud was born in 1922 in Berlin, Germany. In 1933 he moved to England with his family to escape Nazism. There, he became a naturalized Britain citizen in 1939. He went to school at the Central School of Art in London, East Anglian School of Painting and Drawing, and Goldsmiths College. He was the grandson of Sigmund Freud, the well known neurologist.

Freud's style started off being that of surrealism, using plants, animals, and people as his subjects. However in the 1950's, Freud worked with portraiture, using only nudes as his subjects, moving away from the use of other objects in his works, though using an animal paired with one of his nudes every so often. He also began using thicker paint and more dull colors. He was also known to do pictures of horses which he learned to ride.

I can't say that anything about Freud really jumps out to me, however I will say he is another prime example of an artist who using a more realistic style, and one that I have noticed evolve. Some of his paintings, "Girl with a Kitten," the face is not proportioned correctly and there are other flaws, however in this painting pictured, "Girl with a White Dog," it looks much more realistic. The only obvious flaw to me is the eyes are possibly a bit large. Other than that though, the dog's fur and the cloth on the robe the girl is wearing as well as the background cloth is very realistic and an ideal tool to use to help in understanding the techniques used in creating effects like those. Freud has, in my opinion, accurately depicted the dog's fur, the woman's skin, the fabric of the cloth, and the fabric of the seat she is on without having them seem to be made of the same material. The smallest and seemingly most insignificant details can make a huge difference in effects such as that, and Freud is one artist I will use to help understand the technique of creating different textures for materials and the like.