Lucian Freud

Alex Reid & Lefevre, London, where acquired by Wilfrid A. Evill May 1946 for £15.0.0, by whom bequeathed to Honor Frost in 1963

Paris, British Council exhibition, La Jeune Peinture en Grande Bretagne, 23rd January - 21st February 1948, cat. no.7;
London, The Tate Gallery, Contemporary Art Society, The Private Collector, 23rd March - 23rd April 1950, cat. no.42;
London, The Home of Wilfrid A. Evill, Contemporary Art Society, Pictures, Drawings, Water Colours and Sculpture, April - May 1961, (part I- section 2) cat. no.9 (as The Boat);
Brighton, Brighton Art Gallery, The Wilfrid Evill Memorial Exhibition, June - August 1965, cat. no.34.

The following condition report has been compiled by Jane McAusland FIIC, Conservator and Restorer of Art on Paper: Support This drawing on a sheet of now buff paper may have faded a little as a 2cm wide dark line shows on the left edge and a little at the foot. These areas may have been covered by an over-mount which would prevent fading and the original sheet colour may have been a blue/grey in tone. Otherwise the condition of the paper is good, it is laid down fully to a card backing. Medium The medium is in a good condition. Note: This work was viewed outside studio conditions. For enquiries about the present work please contact the department on +44 (0)20 7293 6424.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

'...I longed to go to France and couldn't, so went to the Scilly Isles'
(Freud, quoted in William Feaver, 'Lucian Freud: Life into Art', Lucian Freud, exh.cat., Tate London, 2002, p.23).

At the end of the war, Freud and John Craxton were desperate to leave England. Recalling Freud's pursuit of adventure when he signed up on the SS Baltrover in 1941 as part of an Atlantic convoy, they tried to hide aboard a Breton fishing boat but were quickly discovered and went instead to the Scilly Isles, off the far tip of Cornwall. The vivid West Country light, evident in the intense blue sea and shimmering sand of Beach Scene with a Boat would have come as a hugely welcome break from the gritty chaos and devastation of bombed London. The saturated colour and seemingly sparkling quality of the sun, sea and sand certainly hint at warmer climes and as William Feaver so aptly put it, of 'almost abroad' (Feaver, ibid, p.23).

In contrast to the densely recorded detail of earlier landscapes such as Loch Ness from Drumnadrochit (1943, see Lawrence Gowing, Lucian Freud, Thames and Hudson, London, 1982, plate 35), Beach Scene with a Boat is altogether more confident, showcasing Freud's superb talent as a master draughtsman. He perfectly captures the very essence of the boat itself presenting its side elevation whilst simultaneously portraying the interior as a bird's eye view from above. The new shoots of the curving organic leaf forms silhouetted against the dazzling blue sea are reminiscent of Freud's earlier studies of thorny thistles but here, framed in a sunnier composition, they are perhaps reflective of the wider sense of hope and relief felt throughout Britain after the Second World War.

We are grateful to William Feaver for his kind assistance with the cataloguing of this work. Beach Scene with a Boat has been requested for loan for the forthcoming exhibition Lucian Freud: Drawings to be curated by William Feaver at Blain/Southern, London from 13th February to 5th April 2012 and at Acquavella Galleries, New York from 30th April to 9th June 2012.