Overview

As intimate and meticulous as his revered portraits, Lucian Freud's magnificent paintings and drawings of plant life are gathered for the first time in book form. Lucian Freud's portraits are known for their spectacular detail and unflinching gaze. Although Freud brought the same qualities to his paintings and drawings of plants, flowers, and landscapes, these are largely unknown. This elegant book shows how working with plants emboldened Freud to experiment with style and composition. Reproduced in sumptuous plates that allow readers to indulge in exquisite detail, seventy-five works - including Two Plants, Bananas, Cyclamen, The Painter's Garden, and Interior at Paddington - reveal Freud's singular approach to plant life. Readers unfamiliar with this aspect of Freud's work will find many similarities to his portraits - earthy palettes, unconventional rawness, and assiduous attention to detail. From the delicate realism of the cyclamens' petals to the bold brushstrokes that immortalise his overgrown garden, readers will appreciate Freud's ability to portray plants in new and personal ways. Comparative illustrations from throughout art history accompany essays on the history of plants in art and an appreciation of Freud's oeuvre. This monograph is a tremendous contribution to Freud's legacy, one that will enrich his admirers' discernment while also introducing his thoroughly original depictions of plants to a new audience. AUTHOR: Giovanni Aloi teaches art history, theory, and criticism at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and serves as Editor-in-Chief of Antennae: The Journal of Nature in Visual Culture. He is the author of numerous books and essays about the intersection of nature, science, and art. SELLING POINTS: . Lucian Freud is a British painter known as one of the 20th century's best portraitists. His paintings are known for being somber and discomforting. . This is the only book to feature Freud's drawings of flowers and plants. . This book sheds light on one of the least scrutinised aspects of Freud's work: the persistent presence of plants across the artist's oeuvre. 119 colour illustrations

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9783791385334

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Whatever one thinks of Freud's nudes, it may come as a surprise to learn that he was also a minor producer of still-lifes. This book presents 75 paintings and drawings of plants--some still-lifes per se and others works in which plants are generously displayed. --The Art Newspaper Aloi's focus on plants makes one look again at familiar paintings and provides the opportunity to view others, many of them from private collections, that are equally extraordinary but comparatively little known. -The Spectator

Whatever one thinks of Freud's nudes, it may come as a surprise to learn that he was also a minor producer of still-lifes. This book presents 75 paintings and drawings of plants-some still-lifes per se and others works in which plants are generously displayed. -The Art Newspaper The year's most intriguingly sidelong take on the painter is entitled Lucian Freud Herbarium. Written by Giovanni Aloi, it begins with a potted history of plants in art, and then examines Freud's own use of plants, flowers, and vegetation in many of his paintings. -Hyperallergic Aloi's focus on plants makes one look again at familiar paintings and provides the opportunity to view others, many of them from private collections, that are equally extraordinary but comparatively little known. -The Spectator ...bringing together the artist's paintings and drawings of plants...allows us insight into the quality and nature of Lucian Freud's looking, and through it to find pathos and subtlety in his portraits. -The Arts Desk

Aloi's focus on plants makes one look again at familiar paintings and provides the opportunity to view others, many of them from private collections, that are equally extraordinary but comparatively little known. -The Spectator

Whatever one thinks of Freud's nudes, it may come as a surprise to learn that he was also a minor producer of still-lifes. This book presents 75 paintings and drawings of plants--some still-lifes per se and others works in which plants are generously displayed. --The Art Newspaper The year's most intriguingly sidelong take on the painter is entitled Lucian Freud Herbarium. Written by Giovanni Aloi, it begins with a potted history of plants in art, and then examines Freud's own use of plants, flowers, and vegetation in many of his paintings. --Hyperallergic Aloi's focus on plants makes one look again at familiar paintings and provides the opportunity to view others, many of them from private collections, that are equally extraordinary but comparatively little known. -The Spectator ...bringing together the artist's paintings and drawings of plants...allows us insight into the quality and nature of Lucian Freud's looking, and through it to find pathos and subtlety in his portraits. --The Arts Desk

Author Information

GIOVANNI ALOI teaches art history, theory, and criticism at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and serves as Editor-in-Chief of Antennae: The Journal of Nature in Visual Culture. He is the author of numerous books and essays about the intersection of nature, science, and art.

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