Internationally recognised art and literary critic, writer and cultural producer. Published in ELLE, Glamour, Esquire and Cosmopolitan; member of the Union of Writers.
Frank Auerbach, the German-born British painter, has long held an esteemed place in the canon of postwar art. Known for his densely textured paintings and relentless pursuit of artistic truth, Auerbach’s career is a testament to resilience, reinvention, and the emotional depths of artistic creation. His death at the age of 93 marks the end of an era for British art, leaving behind an extraordinary body of work that continues to captivate and challenge viewers.
The Making of a Postwar Artist
Auerbach’s early life shaped the emotional intensity of his art. Born in Berlin in 1931, he was sent to Britain as a refugee in 1939 to escape Nazi persecution, only to lose his parents in Auschwitz. This traumatic separation became a haunting spectre in his work, evident in the psychological weight of his portraits and cityscapes. Auerbach became a naturalised British citizen in 1947 and soon entered the esteemed art institutions of postwar London, studying at St Martin’s School of Art and the Royal College of Art. His time there solidified his commitment to a figurative yet heavily abstracted style, which would come to characterise his work.
His influence was profound, even among contemporaries like Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon, who, with Auerbach, formed the ‘London School’ of artists in the 1970s. This group revitalised figurative painting in an age inclined towards abstraction and conceptualism. Auerbach’s preference for capturing the raw and fragmented postwar world around him gave his work a striking depth and allowed him to depict the essence of a city rebuilt from ruins.
The Distinctive Process of Layered Creation
One cannot speak of Auerbach without delving into his unique process. His works are as much sculptural creations as they are paintings, often thickly layered with impasto to the point where the paint seems to protrude off the canvas. Auerbach was known for his meticulous and iterative technique, scraping away layers of paint only to rebuild them repeatedly. This process, which could stretch over months or even years, was emblematic of his drive to capture an elusive ‘truth’ in each work. According to Auerbach, the act of scraping was not an act of destruction but rather one of evolution, a continuous search for clarity in the tangled web of his compositions.
Auerbach’s landscapes of Camden, particularly Mornington Crescent, where he worked for much of his life, reflect this same obsessive reworking. His cityscapes evoke the bustling, ever-changing life of London while portraying the city as a place of personal and historical resonance. Each work is a multilayered visual testament, not just to the city’s physical landscape but to its profound and evolving narrative.
Portraiture as a Journey into the Self
Portraiture, for Auerbach, was a psychological journey, a method of exploring and preserving relationships through art. His paintings of close friends and family, including his wife Julia Wolstenholme and their son Jacob, are marked by an intensity that goes beyond likeness. Unlike many of his contemporaries, who often sought to represent their sitters through beauty or idealisation, Auerbach’s portraits delve into the gritty reality of human existence.
Sitters would endure long hours of sitting each week, sometimes for months on end. The result of these protracted sessions was a portrait not just of appearance but of presence – a distilled essence that speaks to both artist and subject’s perseverance. His self-portraits, in particular, reflect this inner struggle, capturing the tension between the artist’s self-perception and the reality of his emotions and experiences.
A Lifetime of Recognition and Influence
Auerbach’s contributions did not go unrecognised. His first major solo exhibition took place at London’s Beaux Arts Gallery in 1956, marking the beginning of a long and celebrated career. In 1978, he held a retrospective at the Hayward Gallery, which solidified his reputation as a leading figure in British art. In 1986, he represented Britain at the Venice Biennale, where he won the prestigious Golden Lion award alongside German artist Sigmar Polke.
Auerbach’s reputation as a visionary was further cemented by exhibitions at the Tate Britain and the Kunstmuseum Bonn, including a 2015 retrospective that The Sunday Times described as honouring ‘our greatest living artist’. The Courtauld Gallery’s recent display of his charcoal portraits was a fitting testament to the enduring power and influence of his work, highlighting the delicate yet commanding quality of his drawings.
Legacy and Influence on Contemporary Art
Frank Auerbach’s legacy is one of fearless experimentation and unrelenting dedication. He rejected both the polish of traditional painting and the abstraction of modernism, carving out a distinct voice in the history of art. His work, celebrated for its visceral quality and emotional depth, continues to inspire contemporary artists who seek to capture the complexity of the human condition.
Auerbach’s refusal to settle for the familiar or the predictable is perhaps his most enduring lesson to future generations of artists. His commitment to the process, to finding beauty in imperfection, and to challenging the viewer’s expectations serves as a guiding light in a contemporary art world increasingly defined by fleeting trends and rapid consumption. As Auerbach himself once stated, “It’s when you’ve run out of conscious things that something takes over,” a statement that captures the mystique and profundity of his artistic journey.
