The Victoria & Albert Museum will be displaying a selection of etchings by Lucian Freud - one of the foremost British artists of the 20th-century.
Photo: vam.ac.ukFreud is best known as a figurative painter but he was also a keen printmaker, reproducing many of the same heads, nudes, dogs and landscapes that appeared in his paintings. These prints were never exact copies of the paintings, but were created independently during separate sittings.
The exhibition will include 38 of the best works from the V&A's collection of 143 - many of which have never been exhibited anywhere before.
Photo: vam.ac.ukOn display will be etchings that are unusually large, the proofs of published prints, and half-finished works that Freud decided to reject or abandon.
Highlights include Large Head, The Painter's Garden, a study of Freud's pet whippet, and another of performance artist Leigh Bowery. You'll also be able to see the only example of Freud's etched self-portrait - a brutally honest study of his own face.
Photo: vam.ac.ukThe exhibition will also offer insights into Freud's working practices and his unique and distinctive approach to etching, and tell the story of his long collaboration with the master printer Marc Balakjian, with whom he worked for more than twenty years.
Many of the works include chalk mark amendments, revealing how Freud and Balakjian enjoyed a creative partnership in which Balakjian supported and aided the artist's vision.
