- 41
Frank Auerbach
Description
- Frank Auerbach
- E.O.W. on her Blue Eiderdown IV
- oil on board
- 41.5 by 46.3cm.; 16 3/8 by 18 1/4 in.
- Executed in 1963.
Provenance
Marlborough Fine Art Ltd., London (acquired from the above in 1966)
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner in 1974
Literature
Condition
"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."
Catalogue Note
Auerbach first met Stella in 1948 when they were both playing small roles in a production of Peter Ustinov’s The House of Regrets at the Unity Theatre, which was directed by their mutual friend Frank Marcus. Recently widowed and left to care for three young children, Stella was forced to open up her house in Earl’s Court to lodgers; the first of whom was Auerbach. In spite of being 17 to her 32, within a week of moving in they embarked upon a long and tempestuous relationship that would span more than 25 years. It was during this time that she inevitably became the young painter’s principle subject. She sat for him three times a week for two hours at a time. Crucially, it is the seemingly endless repetition of Stella and her unwavering commitment that marked a determining factor for Auerbach in these early years. As Robert Hughes observed: “If anyone, early on, helped him manage his sense of the world, it was Stella West. This would have a deep effect on his art. His need for stability within the threatening flux of experience would be absorbed, through E.O.W.’s constant presence as a subject, into the very marrow of his painting and projected on his habits of work” (Robert Hughes, Frank Auerbach, London 1990, p. 90).
Recently describing the impetus for the Blue Eiderdown series, Auerbach recalled “she worked as a social worker all day and got quite tired in the evenings, so lying on the bed and very often falling asleep was a good situation both for her and for me… I worked in Stella’s bedroom then because the children were growing up and I didn’t have quite the freedom to muck up the rest of the house in those days. I would have lots of paint around me, with the painting resting on a very, very painty chair. Stella would lie on the blue eiderdown thrown across her bed. And I have to say the painting brings the whole situation back to me very vividly indeed. These conditions, which I think most artists would complain about, I never found irksome, working in a crowded small room, to be on my knees and not able to get too far away from the painting, because finally, I think, all that thing of unity is in one’s head as much as it is found by looking” (Frank Auerbach quoted in: Catherine Lampert, ‘Frank Auerbach in his own words’, The Telegraph, 4 November 2012, online resource).
Although the works after Stella traverse an incredible development, art historian Catherine Lampert points out that the true essence of Stella, her electric magnetism as a sitter, is felt most strongly in the works that he created of her from 1963-65; the Blue Eiderdown works. In the present work jet black recesses pick out her steely eyes whilst a whisper of crimson denotes her lips, forcefully conveying the raw inner spirit of his lover. With Auerbach’s characteristic flair and ingenuity, E.O.W. on her Blue Eiderdown IV is a superlative example of how he utterly redefined, regenerated and wholly modernised the genre of portraiture through one of the most poignant and celebrated relationships between artist and model of the Twentieth Century.