"Lucian Freud. The Copper Paintings"

"A gem of a book."
—David Dawson, Lucian Freud's assistant

“Lucian Freud. The Copper Paintings”

Less 出版的第一本書。與 Lucian Freud Archive 密切合作開發。
耶魯大學出版社全球發行
Introducing "Lucian Freud. The Copper Paintings", the first book published by Less. Developed in close collaboration with the Lucian Freud Archive. Worldwide distribution by Yale University Press.

Description
在 1950 年代初期，盧西安·弗洛伊德 (Lucian Freud)（1922-2011 年）開始在以銅板作畫。這種技術在 17 世紀的藝術家如倫勃朗和弗蘭斯·哈爾斯中很流行，但對於 20 世紀中葉的畫家來說卻很罕見。
原本以為只有幾幅作品，但Freud實際上畫了十多幅——都是小巧、用了光滑瓷釉，非常具感染力的作品。經過十年的研究，本書首次匯集了Freud的所有銅畫，其中包括兩幅從未曝光的作品。在弗洛伊德的“銅像”中，還有他著名的Francis Bacon肖像（封號Sir Nicholas Serota），被稱為「20 世紀最重要的肖像畫」。該作品於 1988 年被盜，至今下落不明。在對這本書的研究過程中，發現了一張照片，該照片記錄了畫作被盜前幾分鐘的狀態。而這本書是第一本出版的。

In the early 1950s, Lucian Freud (1922–2011) created several works in oil paint on copper, a technique popular with 17th-century artists such as Rembrandt and Frans Hals but highly unusual for a painter in the mid-20th century. It was originally thought there were only a handful works on copper, but Freud in fact painted more than a dozen—all small-scale, enamel-smooth, and astonishingly intense. Based on a decade of research, this book, for the first time, brings together all of Freud’s copper paintings, including two works that have never been reproduced before. Among Freud’s ‘coppers’ is also his famous portrait of Francis Bacon, labelled by Sir Nicholas Serota as ‘the most important portrait of the 20th century’. The work was stolen in 1988 and has been lost ever since. During the research for this book, a photograph was discovered that shows the work just minutes before the theft. This book is the first to publish it.

About Lucian Freud
Lucian Freud是德國出生的英國畫家和繪圖員，被譽為 20 世紀最重要的肖像畫家之一。父親Ernst Freud是奧地利猶太裔建築師，祖父Sigmund Freud是著名心理學家。為了躲避納粹在1933年他隨家人搬到英國，成為英國公民。Lucian Freud在二戰後成為全職繪畫師。他早期畫作專注於肖像和裸體的方式呈現，他經常在引人注目的特寫鏡頭中描繪這些。他將自己處於孤僻和封閉的狀態，遠離喧囂的國際藝術潮流，更多地向自己領域的縱深開掘。他喜歡畸形而病態的主題。其作品風格粗率、性感而注重繪畫性。Freud從事生活研究，他以要求模特進行長時間和懲罰性的坐姿而聞名。2008 年 5 月，他的裸體肖像《福利監督員睡覺》在紐約佳士得以 3360 萬美元的價格售出，是當時在世畫家畫作的最高記錄。弗洛伊德於 2011 年在倫敦的家中去世，享年 88 歲。

Lucian Freud was a German-born British painter and draughtsman and is known as one of the foremost 20th-century portraitists. The son of Jewish architect Ernst Freud and a grandson of Sigmund Freud, he was born in Berlin in 1922 and moved with his family to England in 1933, becoming a naturalized citizen in 1939. Freud turned to painting full-time after World War II. Early on, he established what would become a lifelong focus on portraits and nudes, which he often depicted in arresting close-up. Freud was an intensely private and guarded man, and his paintings, completed over a 60-year career, are mostly of friends and family. The works are noted for their psychological penetration and often discomforting examination of the relationship between artist and model. Freud worked from life studies, and was known for asking for extended and punishing sittings from his models. In May 2008 his nude portrait "Benefits Supervisor Sleeping" was sold by Christie's in New York for $33.6 million, setting a world record for a living artist then. Freud died 2011 at the age of 88 at his home in London.

About the authors
本作品集由Less 的創始人David Scherf與Martin Gayford共同撰寫。Martin Gayford是英國週刊雜誌 《The Spectator》的藝術評論家，並撰寫了多本書，其中包括記錄他為 Lucian Freud 效力的《Man with a Blue Scarf》。
David Scherf is the founder of Less. Martin Gayford is art critic for The Spectator and has authored several books, including "Man with a Blue Scarf" which documents his sitting for Lucian Freud.