Contemporary Art Evening Auction

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Lot 32
  • 32

Frank Auerbach

Estimate
500,000 - 700,000 GBP
bidding is closed

Description

  • Frank Auerbach
  • Head of David Landau
  • oil on canvas
  • 71.7 by 67.4cm.
  • 28 1/4 by 26 1/2 in.
  • Executed in 1998-99.

Provenance

Marlborough Fine Art, Ltd., London
Frissiras Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens

Exhibited

London, Royal Academy of Arts, Frank Auerbach: Paintings and Drawings 1954-2001, 2001, p. 79, no. 42, illustrated in colour

Catalogue Note

"He [Auerbach] has a physicality with his painting. . . He goes into a state of creative orgasm with all the signs of excitement, groans and screams.  And he talks to himself all the time, saying 'rubbish, it's not good enough, complete rubbish'.  But you realise that at some point in his act of creation he is suddenly being a little more content.  He suddenly goes into a state of meditation and touches the canvas with great delicacy, and you think that maybe he has reached a stage where he is satisfied."  David Landau quoted in: John O'Mahony, 'Frank Auerbach: Surfaces and Depths' in, The Guardian, 15 September 2001