Lucian Freud
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First published in 1982, Lawrence Gowing’s Lucian Freud is an intimate account of one of the twentieth century’s most exceptional artists. At once a pivotal narrative, a furtive autobiography and a profound exploration of what it means to think through paint, this book represents a landmark collaboration between two of modern art’s brightest minds.
Drawing on forty years of friendship – as well as his own painterly intuition – Gowing’s commentary pushes language to the very edge of meaning, evoking the richness of Freud’s art with poetic incisiveness as he locates, within the paint itself, ‘a coiled vigilance and ... a serpentine litheness in the ready, rapid way in which an object was confronted.’
Freud’s deep involvement in the original book offers rare insight into the artist as he was in the 1980s. The conversations and questions that shape Gowing’s text produced some of Freud’s most memorable and widely quoted reflections, while Freud’s choice and grouping of paintings and drawings reveal unexpected connections across his works, as seen through his eyes.
Completely redesigned and reissued after many years out of print, this book remains a landmark publication on Lucian Freud.
Drawing on forty years of friendship – as well as his own painterly intuition – Gowing’s commentary pushes language to the very edge of meaning, evoking the richness of Freud’s art with poetic incisiveness as he locates, within the paint itself, ‘a coiled vigilance and ... a serpentine litheness in the ready, rapid way in which an object was confronted.’
Freud’s deep involvement in the original book offers rare insight into the artist as he was in the 1980s. The conversations and questions that shape Gowing’s text produced some of Freud’s most memorable and widely quoted reflections, while Freud’s choice and grouping of paintings and drawings reveal unexpected connections across his works, as seen through his eyes.
Completely redesigned and reissued after many years out of print, this book remains a landmark publication on Lucian Freud.
Extent: 216 pp
Format: Hardback
Illustrations: 131
Publication date: 2026-02-05
Size: 22.9 x 15.2 cm
ISBN: 9780500030912
Format: Hardback
Illustrations: 131
Publication date: 2026-02-05
Size: 22.9 x 15.2 cm
ISBN: 9780500030912
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About the Authors
Sir Lawrence Gowing CBE RA (1918–1991) was an English artist, writer, curator and teacher. Initially recognized as a portrait and landscape painter, he quickly rose to prominence as an art educator, writer, and eventually, curator and museum trustee. David Dawson is a renowned artist and photographer, with his most well known photographs being a series started in 2000 of Lucian Freud at work.
David Dawson is a renowned painter and photographer, and Director of the Lucian Freud Archive. He was Freud's studio assistant and regular model for over twenty years, appearing in paintings such as Sunny Morning - Eight Legs and Portrait of the Hound (2011).