Product Description

A monograph of one of the most prominent contemporary representational artists, which features paintings selected by Auerbach himself as the most important of his career.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1648907 in Books
• Published on: 1992-08
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Auerbach's portrait paintings, with their thick, overloaded surfaces, existentially searching figures and intimations of personal loss, went against the grain of the Hockney-ed '70s. Born in Germany in 1931 to a Berlin lawyer and a Lithuanian artist, both Jews, he was exiled to England at the age of eight. Orphaned by Hitler, this London-based artist summons, through his paintings, the family intimacy denied to him in boyhood. Highly structural landscapes of Camden Town capture "a specific English character of chaos, dinginess and suggestiveness," as Time art critic Hughes observes in this impassioned, probing monograph. As Auerbach's gnomic portrait heads became caricatural, his landscapes turned toward impetuous, rapid notation. His most recent human figures convey battered dignity and fierce protest, a sense of mass in movement.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Born in Germany in 1931 and exiled to England at the age of eight, Auerbach creates thickly impastoed portraits of gnomic human caricatures that convey fierce pride, battered dignity, existential searching, and personal loss. His work of the past four decades is vividly reproduced here in 254 illustrations, including 80 color plates. The text, based on conversations and letters from 1986 to 1988, could profitably have been accompanied by a bibliography, exhibition list, and index, which are sorely missed. Nevertheless, Hughes, noted art critic for Time and author of The Shock of the New (Knopf, 1981), The Fatal Shore ( LJ 11/1/86), and Nothing If Not Critical ( LJ 9/1/90), has produced another winner.
- Russell T. Clement, Brigham Young Univ. Lib., Provo, Ut.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Head of Frank Auerbach
Frank Auerbach's paintings are known for their expressive quality and graphic directness. This handsome monograph (the first of its kind) on the artist is a quality introduction to the reclusive British artist. Robert Hughes places the Berlin-born painter within the context of the "British School" and within the artist's personal tradition with the old masters. Auerbach's dedication to painting is evidently shown through the text and copious illustrations, including 80 in full color. The first chapter is especially interesting, offering a rare glimpse into the artist's studio which he has kept for over forty five years. This is a seminal work on a major contemprary painter.

Superb text, superb paintings
If you are used to having to decode the gnostic and layered texts of typical academic writing on art, this book will be a refreshing change. Hughes writes clearly, yet is not afraid to handle complex and challenging ideas. The book does an excellent job of giving you an understanding of the development of Auerbach's work, from the somewhat turgid work of the 50's to the dynamic paintings of the 1980's. I was especially interested in Hughes' analysis of these later paintings, which emphasizes their relationship to the real world of volume and movement. While their surfaces resemble the fevered paint of neo-expressionism, these are fundamentally pictures in which the artist is not just expressing himself, but is reacting to the "resistant" and complex world. Drawing and painting are unified; form is followed "around the back and out the other side." There are many fascinating quotes from Auerbach himself (for example, an observation that Matisse's cut-outs are such strong shapes because they proceed from an understanding of volume.) The color plates are plentiful and excellent. Careful marginal notes make it easy to refer to the reproductions while reading. This is a book you can actually read and enjoy.

An indepth look over the painter's shoulder
Franz Auerbach, though well known in circles where figurative painting is important, has never pulled the attention of the art world in the way he should. Robert Hughes tends to that oversight in his definitive monograph on this puzzling artist. With insight and a true sense of kinship with the work, Hughes explains and then illustrates why Auerbach is worthy of admiration. Few artists can pull the figure onto the canvas surface the way Auerbach can, using what seems to be the crude pushing of pigment with palette knife and heavy brush. But these expressionistic faces groan with angst or shout their heroic stature powerfully. This is in every way a fine book dealing with a superb artist.