The Lives of Lucian Freud

by William Feaver

  William Feaver, Lucian Freud (London: Tate Publishing, 2002)

  —, Lucian Freud (Venice: Museo Correr, 2005)

  —, Lucian Freud Drawings (London: Blain Southern, 2012)

  Starr Figura, Lucian Freud: The Painter’s Etchings (New York: Museum of Modern Art, 2007)

  Sarah Howgate with Michael Auping and John Richardson, Lucian Freud Portraits, (London: National Portrait Gallery, 2012) Robert Hughes, Introduction, Lucian Freud Paintings (London: Hirshhorn Museum, Washington DC/British Council, London, 1987)

  Catherine Lampert, Lucian Freud (Dublin: Irish Museum of Modern Art, 2007)

  Catherine Lampert in Lucian Freud Early Works 1940–58 (London: Hazlitt Holland-Hibbert, 2008)

  Nicholas Penny in Lucian Freud: Works on Paper (London: South Bank Centre, 1987)

  John Russell, Introduction, Lucian Freud (London: Arts Council of Great Britain/Hayward Gallery, 1974)

  Sebastian Smee, Lucian Freud: Drawings 1940 (New York: Matthew Marks Gallery, 2003)

  —, The Art of Rivalry (New York: Random House, 2016)

  Sebastian Smee and Richard Calvocoressi, Lucian Freud on Paper (London: Jonathan Cape, 2010)

  Books

  Anon. (Michael Nelson), A Room in Chelsea Square (London: Jonathan Cape, 1958)

  W. H. Auden and John Garrett (eds), The Poet’s Tongue (London: George Bell, 1935)

  Roger Berthoud, Graham Sutherland: A Biography (London: Faber & Faber, 1982)

  Ian Collins, John Craxton (London: Lund Humphries, 2011)

  Cressida Connolly, The Rare and the Beautiful: The Lives of the Garmans (London: Fourth Estate, 2004)

  Ann Fleming, The Letters of Ann Fleming, ed. Mark Amory (London: Collins, 1985)

  Robert Fraser, Night Thoughts: The Surreal Life of David Gascoyne (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012)

  Clement Freud, Freud Ego (London: BBC Books, 2001)

  Martin Freud, Glory Reflected (London: Angus & Robertson, 1957)

  Martin Gayford, The Man with a Blue Scarf: On Sitting for a Portrait by Lucian Freud (London: Thames & Hudson, 2010)

  —, Lucian Freud, ed. David Dawson and Mark Holborn (London: Phaidon, 2018)

  Harry Graham, More Ruthless Rhymes for Heartless Homes (London: Edward Arnold, 1930)

  Geordie Greig, Breakfast with Lucian: A Portrait of the Artist (London: Jonathan Cape, 2013)

  Valerie Grove, Laurie Lee: The Well-Loved Stranger (London: Viking, 1999/Robson Press, 2014)

  James Hyman, The Battle for Realism: Figurative Art in Britain during the Cold War (London: Yale University Press for Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, 2001)

  Jeremy Lewis, Cyril Connolly: A Life (London: Jonathan Cape, 1997)

  Ivana Lowell, Why Not Say What Happened? (London: Bloomsbury, 2010)

  George Millar, Isabel and the Sea (London: William Heinemann, 1948)

  Michael Molnar (ed.), The Diary of Sigmund Freud, 1929–39 (London: Hogarth Press, 1992)

  Henrietta Moraes, Henrietta (London: Hamish Hamilton, 1994)

  Richard Morphet, Cedric Morris (London: Tate Gallery, 1984)

  Robin Muir, Under the Influence: John Deakin, Photography and the Lure of Soho (London: Art/Books Publishing, 2014)

  Michael Peppiatt, Francis Bacon: Anatomy of an Enigma (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1996)

  Keiron Pim, Jumpin’ Jack Flash: David Litvinoff and the Rock ’n’ Roll Underworld (London: Jonathan Cape, 2016)

  John Richardson, Sacred Monsters, Sacred Masters (London: Jonathan Cape, 2001)

  Brian Robertson, John Russell and Lord Snowdon, Private View (London: Thomas Nelson, 1965)

  Alan Ross, The Forties (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1950)

  John Rothenstein, Modern English Painters, vol. III: Wood to Hockney (London: Macdonald, 1974)

  Nancy Schoenberger, Dangerous Muse: The Life of Lady Caroline Blackwood (Cambridge, Mass.: Da Capo Press, 2002)

  Barbara Skelton, Tears Before Bedtime (London: Hamish Hamilton, 1987)

  Frances Spalding, Dance till the Stars Come Down: A Biography of John Minton (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1991)

  Stephen Spender, New Selected Journals, 1939–1995, ed. Lara Feigel and John Sutherland with Natasha Spender (London: Faber & Faber, 2012)

  John Sutherland, Stephen Spender: The Authorized Biography (London: Viking, 2004)

  David Sylvester, Interviews with Francis Bacon (London: Thames & Hudson, 1975)

  Michael Wishart, High Diver (London: Blond & Briggs, 1977)

  Charles Wrey Gardiner, The Dark Thorn (London: Grey Walls Press, 1946)

  Acknowledgements

  Being the subject, Lucian Freud, had reason to be wary yet he proved so responsive to questioning that before long what was to have been a brief study threatened to become a full-scale biography. When, in December 2000, I showed him a couple of chapters he was perturbed and I agreed to shelve what I’d done, the understanding being that ‘a novel’, as he put it, could well be published after his death. Through the years that followed he continued to reminisce. ‘How old am I now?’ he would often ask when I answered the phone. He even took to referring enquirers to me, telling them that I had come to know more about his life than he could still remember. To him go my prolonged thanks.

  Conspicuous among those to whom Lucian was primarily a parent and who provided me with recollections, generous help and insights were Annie Freud, Rose [Boyt] Pearce and Esther Freud. Particular thanks to them, also to his successive dealers, James Kirkman and Bill Acquavella, to his assistant David Dawson and lawyer Diana Rawstron (who together administer the Lucian Freud Archive). Weekly discussions with Frank Auerbach while sitting for him from 2003 onwards proved singularly fruitful. And I’m indebted to Andrew Parker Bowles for the loan of his scrapbook.

  Thanks and acknowledgments to:

  Judy Adam, Clare Allen, Anne Ambler, Michael Andrews, June Andrews, Melanie Andrews, James Astor, Jake Auerbach, Kate Austin, Jack Baer, Marc Balakjian, Oliver Barker, Nicola Bateman, Mary Rose Beaumont, Nicci Bell, Felicity Bellfield (nee Hellaby), Bruce Bernard, Jan Banyard, David Batterham, Leigh Bowery, Emily Bearn, Edward Booth-Clibborn, Mark Boxer, Ib Boyt, Kai Boyt, Christopher Bramham, Polly Bramham, Dr Paul Brass, Richard Calvocoressi, Robin Campbell, Henri Cartier Bresson, Robin Cembalest, Susanna Chancellor, Perienne Christian, Sally Clarke, William Coldstream, Cressida Connolly, Robert Coward, John Craxton, Caroline Cuthbert, Roy Davis, Robert Dalrymple, William Darby, Jim Demetrion, Tracy Emin, Erica Davies, Hatty Davidson, Andrew Dempsey, Stephen Deuchar, Hamish Dewar, Angela Dyer, Andrew Cavendish, 11th Duke of Devonshire, Deborah Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire, Harry Diamond, Pat Docherty, Anne Dunn, Freddy Eliot, Jacquetta Eliot, Mark Evans, Tony Eyton, Dan Farson, Charlotte Frank, Stephen Freud, Alice Feaver, Dorothy Feaver, Emily Feaver, Daniela Ferretti, Starr Figura, Jackie Ford, Annabel Freud, Bella Freud, Stephen Gardiner, Nick Garland, Kitty Garman, Martin Gayford, Patrick George, Riccardo Giaccherini, Catherine Goodman, Michael Gormley, Lawrence Gowing, Noame Gottesman, Kim Grusczynski, Dan Gordon, Lindy Guinness, Penelope (Cuthbertson) Guinness, Kathleen Hale, Maggie Hambling, Michael Hamburger, Richard Hamilton, Adrian Heath, David Hockney, Howard Hodgkin, Richard Hollis, Mary Horlock, Sarah Howgate, John Hubbard, Robert Hughes, Evelyn Joll, Jay Jopling, Danny Katz, Moira Kelly, Rolfe Kentish, Edward King, Jeremy King, RB Kitaj, Fred Lambton, Catherine Lampert, Cecily Langdale, Sophie Lawrence, Magnus Linklater, Barbara Lloyd, John Lessore, Joe Lewis, Janey Longman, Sarah Lucas, Louise Liddell, Vivienne Light, Tomas Llorens, Honey Luard, John McCracken, Alfie McLean, Paul McLean, John McEwan, John McLean, Matthew Marks, Mel Merians, Charles Miers, Terry Danziger Miles, Daniel Miller, Mike Moritz, Lynda Morris, Richard Morphet, Rebecca Morse, Richard Mosse, Jane McAdam Freud, Paul McAdam Freud, Charles Noble, Tim Nicholson, Cavan O’Brien, Mark O’Connor, Pilar Ordovas, Sonia Orwell, Francis Outred, Celia Paul, Tristram Powell, Marcus Price, Eduardo Paolozzi, Geoffrey Parton, Susanna Pollen, Marcus Price, John Richardson, Eric de Rothschild, Alan Ross, John Russell
, Brian Sayers, Roz Saville, Patricia Scanlan, Michael Sheldon, Paul Schimmel, Karsten Schubert, Colin Self, Nicholas Serota. David Somerset, 11th Duke of Beaufort, Graham Southern, Unity Spencer, Natasha Spender, Sebastian Smee. Sophie de Stempl, George Stephenson, Timothy Stevens, Mercedes Stoutzker, Jeremy Strick, Christine Styrnau, David Sylvester, Charlotte Taylor, Ruthven Todd, Vitek Tracz, Euan Uglow, Gabriele Ullstein, Nino Valaoritis, Virginia Verran, Alice Weldon, Rowan Williams, Alexi Williams Wynn, Lady Jane Willoughby, Colin St John (Sandy) Wilson, John Wonnacott, Randall Wright, Francis Wyndham.

  A number of others have expressed a wish to remain anonymous; and the help of many whose involvement and knowledge relate to Freud’s life from the seventies onwards will be acknowledged in the second volume.

  The following have kindly given me permission to quote from letters and documents: Lucian Freud Archives, [Sigmund] Freud Museum Archives (Michael Molnar), Tate Archives (Adrian Glew) National Portrait Gallery Archives, Marine Safety Agency (Neil Staples), Craxton Estate (Richard Riley).

  The extract here is from ‘Refugees’, © Estate of Louis MacNeice, reprinted by permission of David Higham.

  The extract here © 1947 TIME USA, LLC. All rights reserved. Reprinted/Translated from TIME and published with permission of TIME USA, LLC. Reproduction in any manner in any language in whole or in part without the written permission of TIME USA, LLC is prohibited.

  My heartfelt thanks to my literary agent Deborah Rogers, of Rogers, Coleridge & White, whose vivid guidance and advocacy for this book extended over decades until her untimely death in 2014, since when Zoë Waldie has been a most excellent guide and minder.

  At Bloomsbury Alexandra Pringle’s enthusiasm and verve have delighted me, my editor Bill Swainson has been a friendly guide and fastidious amender, as has Peter James (copy editor) and Catherine Best (proofreader) while my in-house editor Angelique Tran Van Sang has conducted matters with patience, skill and aplomb. Many thanks also to Allegra Le Fanu, Francesca Sturiale, David Mann, Douglas Matthews, Emma Bal, Genista Tate-Alexander and Maria Hammershoy.

  Shelley Wanger at Knopf in New York has coordinated publication there with super-efficient flair.

  *

  To Andrea Rose for her support, endurance, knowledge and telling advice, my ultimate gratitude and love.

  *

  Picture Credits

  INTEGRATED BLACK AND WHITE IMAGES

  Freud’s Holland Park studio: work in progress on Sunny Morning – Eight Legs, at a six-legged stage, 1997. Photograph by author

  Girl with Roses, 1947–48 (oil on canvas), Freud, Lucian (1922–2011) / British Council, London, UK / © The Lucian Freud Archive / Bridgeman Images

  Sigmund Freud with sons Martin and Ernst (seated left), 1916. Private Collection

  Lucian Freud’s mother, Lucie Brasch, 1919. Private Collection

  Gabriele Ullstein and Lucian Freud c. 1925. Private Collection

  Tom Seidmann-Freud: Hurra, Wir Lesen!

  Birds in Tree, c. 1930 (crayon on paper), Freud, Lucian (1922–2011) / Private Collection / © The Lucian Freud Archive / Bridgeman Images

  The Freud brothers hand in hand: Stefan, Clemens and Lucian (right), Berlin, 1927. Private Collection

  Hiddensee House with Artist, Pear Tree and Zeppelin, c. 1930. Private Collection

  Lucian with kitten, c. 1928. Private Collection

  Lucian c. 1929. Private Collection

  Lucian Freud (far right), as the Young Mariner in the 1934 Dartington Eurhythmic Players production of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. Private Collection

  Lucian Freud with his father at Hidden House, Walberswick, 1936. Private Collection

  The East Anglian School of Painting and Drawing the morning after the fire, East Anglian Daily Times, 1939

  Stephen Spender in Wales, photograph taken by Lucian Freud, January 1940. Private Collection

  Leering Man from the Freud–Schuster Book, 1940. Private Collection

  Cyril Connolly, 1940 (ink on paper), Freud, Lucian (1922–2011) / Private Collection / © The Lucian Freud Archive / Bridgeman Images

  Sir Cedric Morris, 1940 (oil on canvas), Freud, Lucian (1922–2011) / National Museum Wales / © The Lucian Freud Archive / Bridgeman Images

  Naval Gunner, 1941 (pen & ink on paper), Freud, Lucian (1922–2011)/ Private Collection / © The Lucian Freud Archive / Bridgeman Images

  Hospital Ward, 1941 (oil on canvas), Freud, Lucian (1922–2011) / © The Devonshire Collections, Chatsworth / © The Lucian Freud Archive / Reproduced by permission of Chatsworth Settlement Trustees / Bridgeman Images

  Lorna Wishart c. 1930

  Lucian Freud with zebra head, photo by Ian Gibson Smith, reproduced in Penguin New Writing, 1943

  Lochness from Drumnadrochit, 1943 (pen & ink on paper), Freud, Lucian (1922–2011) / Private Collection / © The Lucian Freud Archive / Bridgeman Images

  Portrait of a Young Man, 1944 (black crayon & white chalk on paper), Freud, Lucian (1922–2011) / Private Collection / © The Lucian Freud Archive / Bridgeman Images

  Dead Monkey, 1944. Private Collection

  Private view invitation, 1944. Private Collection

  Rose reproduced in Horizon, 1946

  Man with a Thistle (Self-Portrait) 1946 (oil on canvas), Freud, Lucian (1922–2011) / Tate, UK / © The Lucian Freud Archive / Bridgeman Images

  ‘Truant’, George Millar’s yacht moored off Poros, 1946. Private Collection

  Hercules, 1948 (pen & ink on paper), Freud, Lucian (1922–2011) / Private Collection / © The Lucian Freud Archive / Bridgeman

  Startled Man: Self Portrait, 1948 (pencil on paper), Freud, Lucian (1922–2011) / Private Collection / © The Lucian Freud Archive / Bridgeman Images

  Ill in Paris, 1948 (etching), Freud, Lucian, (1922–2011) / Private collection / © The Lucian Freud Archive / Bridgeman Images

  Christian Berard, 1948 (black & white conte pencil on buff Ingres paper), Freud, Lucian (1922–2011) / Private Collection / © The Lucian Freud Archive / Bridgeman Images

  Portrait of Mrs Ian Fleming, 1950 (oil on canvas), Freud, Lucian (1922–2011) / Private Collection / © The Lucian Freud Archive / Bridgeman Images

  Lucian Freud and Brendan Behan in Dublin, 1953. © Getty

  Francis Bacon, 1952. © The Lucian Freud Archive

  Francis Bacon, 1951 (pencil on paper), Freud, Lucian (1922–2011) / Private Collection / © The Lucian Freud Archive / Bridgeman Images

  Lucian Freud painting bananas at Goldeneye, Jamaica, 1953. Private Collection

  Clarendon Crescent, Paddington, 1953 (ink, graphite & pencil on paper laid down on board), Freud, Lucian (1922–2011) / Private Collection / Photo © Christie’s Images / Bridgeman Images

  Lucian Freud with Caroline Blackwood and assembled wine glasses, Madrid, 1953. Private Collection

  Portrait of a Man (‘Napper’ Dean Paul), 1954 (oil on canvas), Freud, Lucian (1922–2011) / Private Collection / © The Lucian Freud Archive / Bridgeman Images

  Man in a Headscarf, 1954 (oil on canvas), Freud, Lucian (1922–2011) / Private Collection / © The Lucian Freud Archive / Bridgeman Images

  Lucian Freud at Coombe Priory, Dorset c. 1957. Photo Michael Wishart

  Lucian Freud book jacket for Nigel Dennis’ Cards of Identity, 1958

  Lucian Freud and Bernardine in the South of France. Private Collection

  Wheeler’s Lunch, March 1963 (b/w photo; L to R: Tim Behrens, Lucian Freud, Francis Bacon, Frank Auerbach, Michael Andrews), Deakin, John (1912–1972) / The John Deakin Archive / Bridgeman Images

  Red Haired Man on a Chair, 1962–63 (oil on canvas), Freud, Lucian (1922–2011) / Private Collection / © The Lucian Freud Archive / Bridgeman Images

  Interior with Hand Mirror (Self Portrait), 1967 (oil on canvas), Freud, Lucian (1922–2011) / Private Collection / © The Lucian Freud Archive / Bridgeman Images

  Drawing c. 1958.

  COLOUR PLATE SECTIONS

  Landscape with Birds, 1940 (oil on panel), Freud, Lucian (1922–20
11) / Private Collection / © The Lucian Freud Archive / Bridgeman Images

  Girl on the Quay, 1941 (oil on canvas), Freud, Lucian (1922–2011) / Private Collection / © The Lucian Freud Archive / Bridgeman Images

  Man with a Feather (Self Portrait), 1943 (oil on canvas), Freud, Lucian (1922–2011) / Private Collection / © The Lucian Freud Archive / Bridgeman Images

  The Painter’s Room, 1944 (oil on canvas), Freud, Lucian (1922–2011) / Private Collection / © The Lucian Freud Archive / Bridgeman Images

  Woman with a Daffodil, 1945 (oil on canvas), Freud, Lucian (1922–2011) / Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA / © The Lucian Freud Archive / Bridgeman Images

  Girl with a Kitten, 1947 (oil on canvas), Freud, Lucian (1922–2011) / Tate, UK / © The Lucian Freud Archive / Bridgeman Images

  Father and Daughter, 1949 (oil on canvas), Freud, Lucian (1922–2011) / Private Collection / © The Lucian Freud Archive / Bridgeman Images

  Girl with a White Dog, 1950–1, Lucian Freud (1922–2011). Tate, London, 2019. © Tate

  John Minton, 1952 (oil on canvas), Freud, Lucian (1922–2011) / Royal College of Art, London, UK / © The Lucian Freud Archive / Bridgeman Images

  Interior at Paddington, 1951 (oil on canvas), Freud, Lucian (1922–2011) / Walker Art Gallery, National Museums Liverpool / © The Lucian Freud Archive / Bridgeman Images

  Hotel Bedroom, 1954 (oil on canvas), Freud, Lucian (1922–2011) / Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Fredericton, N.B., Canada / © The Lucian Freud Archive / Bridgeman Images

  Woman Smiling, 1958–59 (oil on canvas), Freud, Lucian (1922–2011) / Private Collection / © The Lucian Freud Archive / Bridgeman Images

  Pregnant Girl, 1960–61 (oil on canvas), Freud, Lucian (1922–2011) / Private Collection / © The Lucian Freud Archive / Bridgeman Images

  Baby on a Green Sofa, 1961 (oil on canvas), Freud, Lucian (1922–2011) / © The Devonshire Collections, Chatsworth / © The Lucian Freud Archive / Reproduced by permission of Chatsworth Settlement Trustees / Bridgeman Images

  Head, 1962 (oil on canvas), Freud, Lucian (1922–2011) / Private Collection / © The Lucian Freud Archive / Bridgeman Images