Frank Auerbach

Marlborough Fine Art, Ltd., London
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner in 1999

William Feaver, Frank Auerbach, New York 2009, p. 333, no. 820, illustrated in colour

The colours in the catalogue illustration are accurate. This work is in very good condition. No restoration is apparent under ultraviolet light.
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Depicting the visage of the artist's son, Head of Jake is an intense and brilliantly resolved portrayal that bears witness to many of the salient attributes of the artist's eminent output. Despite Auerbach's specific focus on a small group of acquaintances throughout his career, this is the first occasion that a titled painting of the artist's son has been presented at auction. Jake Auerbach was born in 1958, the year his parents, Frank and Julia, were married. He is a film director and producer, who has made acclaimed documentaries on a number of artists including Titian, Lucian Freud and Paula Rego. In the 1990s his father's working routine was well established, and Jake would sit for him on Tuesdays, while others - Catherine Lampert, Julia Auerbach, Ruth Bromberg, and David Landau – filled up the other respective days of the week. Head of Jake is thus the product of tireless investigation into the characteristics of a subject of very specific and singular importance to the artist. As Catherine Lampert describes: "Auerbach and his son Jake share a serious interest in film and theatre. When Jake poses on Tuesday evenings, after comparing their successes with The Times crossword, father and son 'tend to find in the first hour a bit of disagreement. That's fairly consistent. There are various things he appreciates which he knows I don't'" (Exhibition Catalogue, London, Royal Academy of Arts, Frank Auerbach: Paintings and Drawings 1954-2001, 2001, p. 30).

The artist's mastery of colour and exceptionally focused working process result in a spellbinding description of physiognomic form: while dark indigo, scarlet and jade pigments account receding areas of shade, the passage of light that falls down the face is mediated by hues of equivalent tonal value and extraordinary chromatic intensity. The bravura exhibition of dramatic brushwork builds a sculptural surface: the paint itself becoming form and providing manifest physicality to parallel Auerbach's statement that "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" (The artist cited in: William Feaver, Frank Auerbach, New York 2009, p. 22).