Frank Auerbach

Q. Who is Frank Auerbach

A. The British painter and printmaker Frank Auerbach was born into a Jewish family in Berlin in 1931. He was sent to England by his parents just before the outbreak of World War II, the last time he was ever to see them. After moving to London in 1947 he studied at Borough Polytechnic under David Bomberg, moving on to the St Martin's School of Art from 1948 to 1952 - where he continued in Bomberg's evening life classes - and the Royal College of Art from 1952 to 1955. His first exhibition was at the Beaux Arts Gallery, London, in 1956.

�

Auerbach represented Britain at the Venice Biennale in 1986, where he won joint first prize.

�

Q. What distinguishes his work

A. He is often associated with the artists of the School of London, particularly Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud, R.B. Kitaj and Leon Kossoff, all of whose likenesses appear in Auerbach's work.

�

For his portraits he has always found it most challenging to take as his subject a person he knows well, and he has used only three models in his entire career.

�

Auerbach's work is primarily figurative lying somewhere between pure portraiture and narrative, but with a very expressive use of the texture of paint itself - in some works the paint actually rises up to 2 inches from the surface of the canvas - and by varying the densities of the paint and the colour applications he creates an impression of spontaneity. The work is full of observed facts of posture, expression, the configuration of the head, the tenseness of the body, alertness or boredom as well as contrasts of light and shadow.

�

From the mid-1950s Auerbach also made prints, notably drypoints, etchings and screen prints.

�

Q. What does he say about himself

A. 'My motives are among the most common: the wish to retrieve a shameful life by making something and the wish to defeat the passing of time by preserving an experience. However, whatever the impulse, whatever the critical decision and consideration, at the moment of making, the work must arise as a living thing, with its own imperatives, under the artist's hand.'

�

Q. Where can his work be seen

A. His work is to be found in 48 museum collections world wide, including the Tate Gallery, London, the Israel Museum, Jerusalem, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, the Museo de Arte Moderna de Bahia, Salvador and the National Gallery of South Africa, Cape Town.

�

Q. What about the current exhibition of his work

A. The exhibition Frank Auerbach 1954-2001 is being shown at the Royal Academy London, until 12 December 2001. A major retrospective, the exhibition has been co-curated by Catherine Lampert, Auerbach's model for the last 20 years.

�

For more on the Royal Academy exhibition go to http://www.royalacademy.org.uk

�

See also the article on painting techniques

�

For more on Arts & Literature click here

�

By Simon Smith