It is very rare that I come across a Lucian Freud work that is not extremely compelling. As a believer in the souls of animals, I find that Freud has really missed the mark when it comes to investing these creatures with the same psychological complexity that he finds in humans. I am not convinced these horses are alive.
But maybe the reproductions don't favour the work as well. I think the first painting has a fabulous composition, he cut the white in the perfect spot, I think thats genious :)
ReplyDeleteYour work is very good, I was surprised, not easy to find work like yours on the web!
Maybe spend more time around horses. The problem with your statement about this, is that people have become far too accustomed to seeing horses under stress. Either they're portrayed in show or racing situations, or made to look attentive, which is not a natural milieu for a horse, and it is usually very stressful, often painful. They prefer to be with their buddies in a pasture. Artists paint horses in exaggerated flying mode, always looking for the drama, and drama translates to stress. Photographers sometimes deliberately frighten horses to get the startle reaction, and a shot of the musculature, flared nostrils, wide eyes, and flying mane. All of which indicate alarm. These horses that LF has portrayed are relaxed, the grey in particular has her ears in relaxed mode, and her face is very tranquil, eyes are relaxed, she trusts the painter. The bone structure of her face is very clear. He's done a drawing as well that is just amazing.
ReplyDeleteI have horses, have always been around them, plus I've been drawing/painting them since I was about six. He's done a great job of conveying the pure mass, and bulk of the paint horse, as well as showing the horse has a winter coat. It's a nice "cozy stable" painting, you can practically smell the hay, and the pony clearly standing in a nice bed of shavings, having a lovely meal of hay after his work. He's well cared for, the coat is shiny, and he's in good shape. He's also got a gleam in his eye, and he's left a pile behind him. Nice to see horses portrayed like this, by a genius.