Love Lucian: The Letters of Lucian Freud 1939–1954 – A Times Best Art Book of 2022

The Letters of Lucian Freud 1939–1954

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The young Lucian Freud was described by his friend Stephen Spender as ‘totally alive, like something not entirely human, a leprechaun, a changeling child, or, if there is a male opposite, a witch

The young Lucian Freud was described by his friend Stephen Spender as ‘totally alive, like something not entirely human, a leprechaun, a changeling child, or, if there is a male opposite, a witch.’ All that magnetism and brilliance is displayed in the letters assembled here, many published for the first time.

From schoolboy messages to his parents, through letters to friends, lovers and confidants, to correspondence with patrons and associates as he became established as a professional painter, they are peppered with wit, affection and irreverence. Collectively, they provide a powerful insight into his early life and art. Co-authored by David Dawson, Freud’s longstanding personal assistant and now Director of the Lucian Freud Archive, and Martin Gayford, author, critic and friend of the artist, this is the first published collection of Freud’s correspondence. Reproduced in facsimile alongside reproductions of Freud’s artwork, the letters are linked by a narrative that weaves them into the story of his life and relationships through his formative first three decades.
Extent: 392 pp
Format: Hardback without Jacket
Illustrations: 300
Publication date: 2022-09-29
Size: 31.5 x 21.0 cm
ISBN: 9780500024850

Press Reviews

The artist’s riotous lust for life is revealed …The publication of Lucian Freud’s letters is like the moment in Peter Jackson’s Beatles documentary when Paul McCartney picks up his bass and creates Get Back out of thin air. It’s letting daylight in on magic … part of the charm of this book is the revelation - to me, at least - of his sense of humour
Sunday Times

Lively ... Here Freud’s letters and postcards, in his strangely childlike writing and often augmented with drawings, shed a very personal light on his life and loves … Addressed to lovers, family and friends such as Stephen Spender, Kenneth Clark and Sonia Orwell, Freud’s correspondence fizzes with joshing and drolleries
The Times, Best Art Books of the Year

A model of intelligent design … The raw spontaneity and energy of each illustrated page conveys Freud’s moods and preoccupations in a way that no biographer can match. Altogether, this is as vivid a Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man as we shall ever have, and compelling reading for Freud aficionados and amateur psychologists alike
The Spectator

Handsome and enthralling … LOVE LUCIAN is unique, a sort of biographical tapestry woven around a set of missives reproduced in facsimile that are at once skimpy, slapdash, funny and, in many cases, idiosyncratically but beautifully illustrated works of pictorial art
Guardian

About the Authors

David Dawson is a painter and photographer who was Freud’s assistant and regular model for over twenty years. He appears in paintings such as Sunny Morning–Eight Legs, 1997. Dawson is Director of the Lucian Freud Archive. Martin Gayford is art critic for The Spectator. His books include Man with a Blue Scarf (in which he recounts the experience of being painted by Freud), Modernists and Mavericks, Spring Cannot be Cancelled (with David Hockney), A History of Pictures (with David Hockney) and Shaping the World (with Antony Gormley), all published by Thames & Hudson.

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