Love Lucian: The Letters of Lucian Freud, 1939-1954

Interesting online lecture from ARTscapades discussing the recently published letters of Lucien Freud.

I had already heard the speaker, Martin Gayford, talk at the Charleston Small Wonder Festival with Esther Freud but it was interesting to hear him again in an event that was more of a lecture format.

He began by explaining how the dates chosen for the collection take us from Freud going to art collage to his appearing at the Venice Biennale. The letters trace the start of a lot of his lifelong friendship and his early romances and form an alternative biography in tone.

He talked about how the letters sometimes morph between being letters and drawings which is why he has produced them in the book as facsimiles as well as how the handwriting often differs between recipients. 

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