Prestel Lucian Freud Herbarium 盧西安·佛洛伊德

“He wasn’t a gardener, he wasn’t a plant lover in a traditional sense ,but he cared about them: he kept them alive, moved them around from studio to studio. He shared his life with them. He approached plants in his work without smothering them with symbolic meaning, so that he could show their real essence – an idea that is visible in all his body of work.” — Giovanni Aloi

 

Lucian Freud’s portraits are known for their spectacular detail and unflinching gaze. Although Freud brought the same qualities to his paintings and drawings of plants, flowers, and landscapes, these are largely unknown. Both still haunt our taste and desire today in ways that often go undetected until we stumble across the work of an artist like Lucian Freud, whose determination to see through and past the structures that constrict our thinking allows us to lift the veils of cultural impositions.

 

Flowers and plants have, for a century, been associated with femininity. They became popular after the protestant revolution of the 16th century forbade Northern European artists from painting religious figures. This instilled a major art market crisis. Artists averted by replacing saints and martyrs with symbolically charged portrayals of animals and plants. Symbolic meanings were derived from sacred scriptures and biblical apocrypha. They were meant to educate protestant viewers of northern European countries and subsequently became fashionable in Italy, Spain, and France. 

 

The protestant church saw religious images of sacred figures as idolatrous, spurring never-ending controversies over the use of icons in worship. Faced with the challenge of not being able to paint these sacred subjects, artists seized the opportunity to explore the silence and beauty of plants. However, influential art historians in the 17th century positioned paintings of flowers and plants at the bottom of both commercial and cultural hierarchies. Consequently, art historians have often marginalized plants in art, considering them mere curiosities.

 

In response, many artists infused their flower paintings with deeper meanings to elevate their cultural significance, using them as philosophical reminders of mortality and the fleeting nature of earthly life. This elegant book shows how working with plants emboldened Freud to experiment with style and composition. Reproduced in sumptuous plates that allow readers to indulge in exquisite detail, seventy-five works—including Two Plants, Bananas, Cyclamen, The Painter’s Garden, and Interior at Paddington—reveal Freud’s singular approach to plant life. 

 

Readers unfamiliar with this aspect of Freud’s work will find many similarities to his portraits—earthy palettes, unconventional rawness, and assiduous attention to detail. From the delicate realism of the cyclamens’ petals to the bold brushstrokes that immortalize his overgrown garden, readers will appreciate Freud’s ability to portray plants in new and personal ways. Comparative illustrations from throughout art history accompany essays on the history of plants in art and an appreciation of Freud’s oeuvre. 

 

This monograph is a tremendous contribution to Freud’s legacy, one that will enrich his admirers’ discernment while also introducing his thoroughly original depictions of plants to a new audience. As intimate and meticulous as his revered portraits, Lucian Freud’s magnificent paintings and drawings of plant life are gathered for the first time in book form.

 

Features

• Edition : -
• Binding : Hardcover
• ISBN : 9783791385334
• Publication Date : 2019/10/7

 

Materials & Care

• Imported