CENTRE POMPIDOU TO PRESENT EXHIBITION ON LUCIAN FREUD

THE CENTRE POMPIDOU, PARIS, IS TO PAY TRIBUTE TO LUCIAN FREUD, ONE OF THE GREATEST OF CONTEMPORARY PAINTERS, NOW 88 YEARS OLD, HE IS ONE OF THE WORLD'S MOST IMPORTANT LIVING ARTISTS. HE HAS NOT SHOWN IN FRANCE SINCE THE CENTRE'S LAST MAJOR RETROSPECTIVE OF HIS WORK NEARLY A QUARTER OF A CENTURY AGO, IN 1987, THOUGH HIS FAME HAS SINCE THEN ONLY GROWN AND HIS PLACE IN THE HISTORY OF ART BECOME EVER MORE ASSURED. THE EXHIBITION WILL PRESENT AN OUTSTANDING SELECTION OF FREUD'S WORK, CONSISTING OF SOME FIFTY LARGE FORMAT PAINTINGS, MOSTLY FROM PRIVATE COLLECTIONS, TOGETHER WITH A NUMBER OF PRINTS AND DRAWINGS, AS WELL AS PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE ARTIST'S LONDON STUDIO. THE EXHIBITION IS ORGANIZED AROUND THE THEME OF THE STUDIO, THE ENCLOSED SPACE SO ESSENTIAL TO FREUD'S PAINTINGS AND TO HIS PRACTICE AS A PAINTER. OCCUPYING MORE THAN 900 SQUARE METERS, IT WILL BRING TOGETHER MOST OF THE PAINTER'S LARGE INTERIORS, HIS VARIATIONS ON THE OLD MASTERS, HIS SELF-PORTRAITS, AND MORE RECENT VERY LARGE PORTRAITS OF LEIGH BOWERY AND BIG SUE. THE AMAZING DISTINCTIVENESS OF LUCIAN FREUD'S WORK RESIDES TO A GREAT EXTENT IN THE MINUTE, ALMOST OBSESSIONAL TREATMENT OF THE PORTRAITS AND NUDES, BASED ON AN ABSOLUTE COMMITMENT TO THE CRAFT OF PAINTING: 'I WANT PAINT TO WORK AS FLESH'. THE MODEL IS OBSERVED WITHIN THE ENCLOSED WORLD OF THE STUDIO, THE PAINTER'S LABORATORY. FREUD PAINTS ONLY WHAT TAKES PLACE IN THIS SPACE, SETTING HIS MODELS WITHIN A PRECISE SCENOGRAPHY THAT DRAWS ON THE FURNITURE AND OTHER STUDIO FURNISHINGS, WHICH BECOME RECURRENT AND RECOGNIZABLE ELEMENTS OF HIS COMPOSITIONS: THE POT PLANT, THE SAGGING SOFA, THE OLD ARM CHAIR, THE IRON BEDSTEAD, THE HAND-BASIN AND THE PAINT SPATTERED WALLS.
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