Lucian Freud
LUCIAN FREUD "BLOND GIRL" ETCHING, 1986
Lucian Freud (1922-2011) was a seminal figure in 20th-century British art, celebrated for his raw and psychologically charged exploration of the human form.
With his distinctive figurative intensity, Freud captured friends, family, and lovers in a signature brand of realism that he refined over a seven-decade long career. The artist revitalized traditional portraiture in England by imbuing his images with visceral complexity and exposing his subjects in harsh, often unsettling poses that reveal their vulnerability.
Freud's style is renowned for its striking emphasis on texture and physicality. His portraits are remarkably unsentimental and veer on harsh. Perhaps the most defining characteristic of his oeuvre is the artist's bold mastery of light and shadow. Freud accentuates every detail of his subjects with frenetic strokes and dramatic contrasts, carving out contours and imperfections with deliberate unflinching precision.
Although Freud produced several prints early in his career, he took a 30-year hiatus before reconnecting with the medium in 1982. As with the rest of his practice, each etching demanded months of work and many sittings, deepening the intrigue and complexity of his printmaking.
"Blond Girl" depicts artist Sophie de Stempel, a regular model for Freud in the 1980s. Freud has isolated her figure, omitting any furniture or indication of the mechanism of her pose. This work embodies Freud's unparalleled ability to merge realism with psychological depth, leaving a poignant impression of vulnerability and introspection.
This etching relates to the pose seen in the painting "Blond Girl, Night Portrait" (repr. Bevan 1986, p.339). of 1980-5, but the sofa on which the model was posing has been omitted. Her legs are less bent in the print with the result that her pose is slightly flattened towards the plane of the paper.
Today, Freud's work can be found in prominent collections across the globe, including the National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa), Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam), and the National Portrait Gallery, to name a few. This etching is held in the collections of the Courtauld, the Tate, and the Victoria and Albert Museums.
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"Blond Girl"
London, 1985
Etching on on white satin Somerset paper
Initialed "L.F." bottom right; numbered "10/50", bottom left
Printed by Terry Wilson Palmtree Editions
Published by James Kirkman Ltd., London, and Brooke Alexander Inc., New York
27.5"H 21.5"W (plate)
34.75"H 28"W (sheet)
38.5"H 32"W (framed)
Very good condition
Literature: Roger Bevan, ‘Freud's Latest Etchings’, Print Quarterly, vol.3, Dec. 1986, pp.334–43; Robert Flynn Johnson, ‘The Later Works 1961–1987’ in Lucian Freud: Works on Paper, exh. cat., South Bank Centre 1988, p.20–1; Jane Norrie, ‘Lucian Freud: Works on Paper’, Arts Review, vol.40, 3 June 1988, p.391; Craig Hartley, ‘Freud as an Etcher’ in Lucian Freud: The Complete Etchings 1946–1991, exh. cat., Thomas Gibson Fine Art Ltd 1991, [p.7]; Craig Hartley, Lucian Freud: Acqueforti, exh. cat., Galleria Arialdo Ceribelli, Bergamo 1994, p.17, repr. p.75
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