I went to see this exhibition with the entirety of my bank balance, and it was completely free. Walking through Manchester Gallery you’re faced with a double stairwell symmetrically opposite one another. Paintings fixed to the wall, these paintings scream artefacts, beautifully refined, these paintings stare back soulless. These paintings hung above ones head, they speak to my college education where I was taught painting to a certain extent, however these go beyond those restraints. I look at these paintings, as a voyeur.
From being a trespasser in an unfamiliar place, one enters the exhibition and all at once discovers the depths that the inhuman attempts to murder, dirty, vulnerable and naked from within, there is no pretence within these four walls and no shame for being human. The shame, displaced and shown in it’s true form amongst the unity of the paintings, an empowering force allowing you in.
Lucian Frued
Lucian Frued’s early portraits characteristically known for big eyes, delicate eyelids. The painting ‘Girl with Beret’ (1951-52) identifies with having these characteristics, her eyes glassy. You can see every precise brushstroke, defining her inner eye. For such pale eyes, no human quality is lost, the white providing the appearance of depth within the room she is a part of. The model soft in appearance, even with her hard edge qualities. There’s something in the balance of this painting that makes it so beautiful, maybe the ambiguity of gender, the gentle blush against the dark clothing. The honey tones in her hair provides warmth within the painting, it prevents the model from being swallowed up by the cooler colours. There isn’t direct eye contact with the viewer, we question what she is looking at, especially because of the lack of reflection within her pupil. Surrounded by other paintings, she remains alone, with Lucian Frued.
Frank Auerbach
Frank Auerbach was anything but concerned with the price of oil paint for this painting. His necessity for the painting ‘Head of E.O.W III, oil on canvas 1963’ went beyond this, you could tell with each layer that it was a must. The thick layers of white have different variations of colour which could indicate varied whites, the time between layers and the straight from the tube mixing with colours. The strokes appear to cover under layers and dent into older paint, picking area of where the face had previously been determined, each territorial mark seeking out a face, seeing his sitter, who sat, time and time again until a face recognisable by Auerbach arose. A painting unrecognisable by traditional portraiture value, this face had various sides and depth. The portrait close-up appears like a landscape, each mark mapping points of interests, sculpting a head rather than being transfixed on replicating the appearance of the sitter, maybe this is how Auerbach viewed Estella West in this period of time. It appears to me Auerbach looked at the viewer far more than he ever looked at the canvas.
