FRANK AUERBACH

Frank Auerbach Signed Monograph

Publisher: Rizzoli (September 22, 2009)

Details

• Signed: Hand-signed by Frank Auerbach
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0847830586
• ISBN-13: 978-0847830589
• Format: Large-format hardback in slipcase
• Condition: As new; dust wrapper protected in archival polythene since purchase

© Rizzoli
All Rights Reserved

THE DEFINITIVE AUERBACH

One of the most beautiful and imposing art monographs published in recent decades. Vast in scale and astonishing in scope, it presents a body of work that stands among the great achievements of post-war British art.

“I’m hoping to make a new thing for the world that remains in the mind
like a new species of living thing.” — Frank Auerbach

This is the most comprehensive publication available on Frank Auerbach — painter, visionary, and one of the foremost interpreters of the human figure and urban landscape. Although Auerbach has spent more than fifty years working within a small area of north London, his paintings stretch far beyond their subjects, vibrating with urgency, emotion, and extraordinary physical presence.

Born in Berlin in 1931 and arriving in Britain as a child refugee, Auerbach went on to develop a deeply personal language of painting. His portraits and cityscapes connect as much to certain Old Masters as to contemporaries such as Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud. Vivid, impulsive, and uncompromisingly alive, his images capture the sensation of seeing rather than the literal appearance of the world.

This monumental volume includes 200 full-colour plates alongside a vast reference section of around 900 images — Auerbach’s complete works to date, many reproduced for the first time. Art historian and critic William Feaver provides thoughtful context, and his extensive conversations with the artist offer rare insight into Auerbach’s process, philosophy, and long search for truth in paint.

AN IMMERSIVE JOURNEY

Probaly the most beautiful monograph on Auerbach ever published. Lifting the heavy volume from its impressive slipcase, the reader travels chronologically through nearly sixty years of work — from the raw post-war paintings of the 1950s to the mature, expansive canvases of the 2000s.

It is as close as one can get to entering Auerbach’s small but inexhaustible corner of North London. Faces recur, places recur, and time itself seems to gather in the thick strata of paint. The familiar initials — J.Y.M., E.O.W., and others — almost become known companions, though they ultimately belong to Auerbach’s world alone, sealed into his canvases and his era.

CRITICAL RECEPTION

Praised by major publications including the Financial Times and the London Evening Standard, this 2009 Rizzoli monograph is regarded as indispensable for anyone seeking to understand Auerbach’s evolution. Its depth, its fidelity to the paintings, and its unparalleled visual archive make it a key text in modern British art history.

SELECTED WORKS FEATURED

In Chronological Order

• Building Site, Earls Court Road: Winter (1953)
• E.O.W. on Her Blue Eiderdown V (1963)
• Mornington Crescent (1965)
• Primrose Hill (1967–1978)
• Head of J.Y.M. II (1984–1985)

Auerbach’s paintings are celebrated for their daring use of impasto, colour, and sculptural brushwork — each piece an excavation of memory, observation, and time laid thick upon the canvas.

Images © Estate of Frank Auerbach / Rizzoli. All Rights Reserved.

View Larger Scans

Click any image below to view a full-size scan of the book and signature.