Executed in 2001, Head of Julia is an intimate portrait which exudes the affinity between husband and wife. In this depiction of Julia Auerbach, Frank Auerbach presents the viewer with a timeless exemplar of love and affection, approaching each stroke with a soft and careful application, the thick layers of warm yellow impasto congealing into the likeness of the sitter. In his own words: “there's no substitute for likeness. If something looks like a "portrait" it doesn't look like a person. When the forms evoked by the marks seem coherent and alive and surprising, and when there are no dead areas, I think the painting might be finished” (Frank Auerbach quoted in: William Feaver, Frank Auerbach, New York 2009, p.22).

Auerbach centralizes his artistic practice on whittling a small group of sitters down to the bare essentials of their being. In doing so, the artist has created a body of work that speaks as much to his own personality as it does to those of his subjects. Auerbach's reclusive nature and social intimacy meant that he continually reimagined and reworked similar places and subjects, including the beloved streets of Camden Town and his close-knit community, including models Estella (Stella) Olive West (‘E.O.W.’), model Julia Yardley Mills (J.Y.M.), and his closest and most intimate family members, son Jake and his wife Julia. Building up a sculptural accumulation of paint, the present work beautifully illustrates the great intensity with which Auerbach treats each painting, the vigor of the rich, broad paint strokes revealing their application as the brushwork conjures the palpable emotions between him and his sitter.

Born in Berlin in 1931, Auerbach came to the United Kingdom as a refugee in 1939. In the war-torn London of the 1950s, Auerbach forged his reputation amongst a new generation of artists and friends, including Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud and Leon Kossoff. He began studying in London, first at St Martin’s School of Art from 1948 to 1952, and later at the Royal College of Art from 1952 to 1955. Auerbach met his wife Julia during this time at the Royal College in London and by 1958 they were married, with their son Jake born that same year. They separated shortly after before reuniting in 1976, and since then Julia has become among the primary subjects of Auerbach’s paintings.

Auerbach offers an extraordinary perspective into the creation of image-making. In the present work, Auerbach invites the viewer to regard his sitter with the familiarity and sentimentality with which he sees her. He captures Julia’s essence with an endearing side profile as the luscious acrylic imbues the work with affection and soul. The richly layered paint has become archetypically Auerbach and reveals his passionate relationship with paint and the sitter. Capturing the essence of Julia as she sits before him, Auerbach described his painting process: “the paint became thicker and thicker, and I didn't notice it...the surface of the painting was eloquent, but it wasn't eloquent for its own sake... It wasn't intentional at all. But on the other hand I was quite prepared to let anything happen because I wanted to make something new” (Frank Auerbach quoted in: William Feaver, Frank Auerbach, New York 2009, p. 231).