The Lives of Lucian Freud-The Restless Years 1922-168- William Feaver

 The majority of my influences as an artist are definitely the greats of the past, whether they are European masters of Renaissance and Baroque, or an ancient empire of thinkers like the Egyptians or African sculptors. The arts in the west definitely take a sharp turn South after Picasso and Matisse, let's admit. Even if it might not be polite to say that, it's also not polite to make mediocre works of art and aggressively promote them in order to normalize your particular brand of ignorance, lowering the cultural standard, so you don't have to put in as much effort with your own work, even if it is all the rage these days. 

So I guess we're even. 

   But this guy was an exception to the rule. Someone who decided that using influences like Ingres and Albrecht Duhrer are appropriate for a modern day artist. You don't have to follow the trend if the trend is overrated. He thought for himself with his figures, never yielding to the generic, one size fits all, are-you-serious-are-people-actually-buying-this phenomenon of abstract expressionism. Props to him for sticking to his guns, while everybody else just chugged along in art school and did exactly what they needed to in order to "get a good grade in the class" and nothing else. 

    I was eager to buy this book the moment I saw it on the shelf, and that is something I never do. I am not an impulse buyer, but because there's so little written information on this guy, I leapt at the chance. 

   His privileged upbringing, due to his grandfather's success as a world renown psychologist, of course gave rise to lots of spoiled brat behavior that would make most of us shake our heads, but luckily he was focused enough on his artistic talent that we get to enjoy the fruits of his labors. 

   It was interesting to read about his time in Greece. He seems to have done very little traveling, and never even had to have a real job, but for his brief time in the Navy. 

   The content of the book is definitely interesting, and I was glad to get some details of his personal life that were formerly obscured. But that being said, it's not that well organized. The writing is not that good. The author, William Feaver, seems to be randomly stacking facts for pages and pages, jumping from here to there, as apposed to delicately handing me off from one section to another. My mind is wandering at some points, but this is less of a literary experience, and more of a "scan for information" type of deal.  

Popular posts from this blog

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer-by Mark Twain

Image
 Another visit with an American legend, Mark Twain. I'd read this book before, and it recently popped back into my mind as I was thinking about the purpose of the arts and literature, and history. To feel engaged with the past, and feel a voice of a former time period reach through and reassure you in your present world, cheering you up in your current circumstance, you can really become nostalgic for a time period you were never part of.      The innocence of the late nineteenth century, in rural southern America (politely disregarding the malicious racism for a literary experience), I love Twain's unapologetic individuality. He's deliberately teasing our notion of what literature is supposed to do. The children's, magical world he describes is accurate to all generations of children, playing pretend. Acting as pirates, or playing cops and robbers, or having superstitious rituals and "voodoo" magic; that moment before you really learn how the world works, and
Read more

The Invisible Man- By H.G Wells

Image
 Before we get started, let's differentiate this one from the classic Ralph Ellison novel "Invisible Man" which is another fine work that I might do another post on at some point. I'm using the opening line of this post to mimic the opening line of that book by Ellison, in where he bothers to differentiate his title from the "Hollywood movie ectoplasm" or whatever he described it as.      I recently had a one day lengthy road trip and needed an audio book to keep me company on the drive. I listened to all of Wells' novel there and back, and was positively riveted the whole time. This is another one of those books, a classic work of literature that is a science fiction novel in genre. Though it doesn't carry any genre-fiction cliches or over the top, high concept plot lines with hyper contrived scenarios and explanations.      I'd always been curious about the book, as a general classic that seems like an important part of English language literat
Read more

Picasso and the Painting that Shocked the World-Miles J. Unger

Image
     Another title purchased while in Brooklyn, NY, from an independent little bookstore in Williamsburg a few blocks up from where I was residing. It's always satisfying to discover these little hold out small businesses competing with the big, trendy, sexy Barnes and Noble tyrant. I walked in, only having noticed it accidentally while walking by to a CVS or something, for some toothpaste or whatever.     I cruised the shelves and made mental notes of where I'd like to come back to and browse later on, but on the center table, near the entrance, you know the spot, just near the front counter, but placed in the vicinity of the swinging front door so a gust of cold air shrivels you up every time a new customer enters, there were some new titles they had on display, and I was excited to read this one.  I almost never buy things on impulse, but if I want it living with me, I want it living with me.        Earlier that year, before departing for New York, I had discovered in th
Read more