Man with a Blue Scarf: On Sitting for a Portrait by Lucian Freud

by Martin Gayford

Overview

Lucian Freud (1922-2011), widely regarded as the greatest figurative painter of our time, spent seven, months painting a portrait of the art critic Martin Gayford. The writer's daily narrative of their encounters takes us into that most private place, the artist's studio, and to the heart of the working methods of this modern master-both technical and subtly psychological. From this emerges an understanding of what a portrait is, but something else materializes: a portrait, in words, of Freud himself. Full of wry and revealing observations, this is a book not quite like any other: the inside story of how it feels to pose for a remarkable artist, and become a work of art.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780500295182
Publisher:	Thames & Hudson
Publication date:	09/24/2019
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	248
Sales rank:	1,201,145
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.30(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Martin Gayford is art critic for The Spectator. His books include Man with a Blue Scarf; Modernists and Mavericks; Spring Cannot Be Cancelled, with David Hockney; A History of Pictures, with David Hockney; Shaping the World, with Antony Gormley; and Love Lucian: The Letters of Lucian Freud, 1939–1954, with David Dawson.

Table of Contents

Man with a Blue Scarf the Sittings

28 November 2003 7

1 December 2003 18

3 December 2003 31

5 December 2003 49

16 December 2003 53

19 December 2003 66

28 December 2003 73

2 January 2004 77

6 January 2004 82

16 January 2004 88

23 January 2004 94

26 January 2004 100

30 January 2004 105

3 February 2004 108

6 February 2004 112

11 February 2004 115

21 February 2004 121

24 February 2004 128

27 February 2004 135

3 March 2004 141

9 March 2004 146

7 April 2004 151

14 April 2004 154

16 April 2004 156

19 April 2004 159

27 April 2004 163

29 April 2004 169

4 May 2004 173

7 May 2004 174

11 May 2004 178

14 May 2004 181

18 May 2004 183

20 May 2004 185

26 May 2004 191

27 May 2004 197

15 June 2004 198

16 June 2004 200

22 June 2004 208

30 June 2004 211

4 July 2004 214

Portrait Head 221

Postscript 234

Afterword 236

Sources of Quotations 238

List of Illustrations 239

Further Reading 241

Acknowledgments 242

Index 243

Editorial Reviews

"Thoughtful and moving . . . Man With a Blue Scarf [is] one of the most instructive books I’ve ever read about art."

The New York Times Book Review

"Amazing. . . . It’s so fascinating to be inside Freud’s mind."

The Boston Globe

"Martin Gayford's elegant account of sitting for a picture by [Lucian Freud]."

The New York Times