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Painting, punting, procreation

A gargantuan life of Lucian Freud
by
December 2020, no. 427

The Lives of Lucian Freud: Fame, 1968–2011 by William Feaver

Bloomsbury, $69.99 hb, 568 pp

Painting, punting, procreation

A gargantuan life of Lucian Freud
by
December 2020, no. 427

To start with the broadest of generalisations, artists’ biographies can be divided into three types: those that concentrate on the work; those that take the life as their focus; and the ‘life and times’ volumes that attempt to place the artist in her social and political context.

And then there is William Feaver’s massive 1,248-page, two-volume extravaganza on Lucian Freud (1922–2011). It had been Feaver’s original intention to produce ‘a brief account of Freud the artist’, but over time, as the pair became closer, the recorded reminiscences grew and grew and an understanding developed that Feaver would produce what Freud called ‘a novel’ after his death.

Ian Dickson reviews 'The Lives of Lucian Freud: Fame, 1968–2011' by William Feaver

The Lives of Lucian Freud: Fame, 1968–2011

by William Feaver

Bloomsbury, $69.99 hb, 568 pp

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