Rare Lucian Freud’s Etchings on Display at the V&A until 5th January 2025

Lucian Freud, a towering figure in British art, is celebrated for his unflinching depictions of the human form. His paintings often confront viewers with raw, unapologetic truths, but his etchings—currently showcased in the V&A Museum’s exhibition Lucian Freud’s Etchings: A Creative Collaboration—reveal an equally bold, if less widely appreciated, facet of his artistry. Lucian Freud’s etchings are on display until 5th January 2025, offer a rare glimpse into Freud’s fascination with the human body, as he explored its imperfections and idiosyncrasies with an unrelenting eye.

Adam Gopnik, writing for The New Yorker, once described Lucien Freud as

“the British painter of fat people who own their fat—who maintain an ungrumbling harmony with their own imperfection so complete that it becomes a kind of perfection.”

Gopnik explains that in art, the nude has long been a subject of contention, oscillating between the Suspiciously Perfect and the Depressingly Truthful. The former, rooted in the Greek tradition, celebrates idealised bodies of unyielding symmetry, resembling Instagram-worthy figures painstakingly sculpted in gyms and touched up with filters. The latter, often aligning with what Kenneth Clark described in The Nude as the Gothic tradition, views the body as a site of vulnerability—its folds of flesh and sagging muscles a testament to the awkward reality of human existence. Freud, a master of this second, realist tradition, rejected the superficial gloss of perfection. His subjects embody an unspoken acceptance of their imperfections, transforming flaws into their own unique kind of beauty.

Lucian Freud’s etchings echo this perspective, focusing on bodies that defy conventional ideals. Unlike the Suspiciously Perfect figures of art history, his works inhabit a space of unvarnished authenticity. His etched lines—deliberate, dense, and occasionally chaotic—capture not just the physical presence of his sitters but the lived reality of their existence. Each work reveals the artist’s fascination with texture, light, and the interplay of form, whether depicting Leigh Bowery’s monumental physique in Large Head (1993) the delicate features of Pluto Aged Twelve (2000), a tender portrait of Freud’s whippet, or Self Portrait Reflection (1996), which offers an honest appraisal of his own emeciated face

Freud’s approach to etching mirrored his painting process, with copper plates mounted upright on an easel to mimic the physical engagement of working on canvas. This technique imbued his prints with a painterly quality that blurred the boundaries between the two mediums. Freud’s partnership with master printer Marc Balakjian further refined his vision, transforming initial sketches and trial proofs into striking, independent works of art. The exhibition includes multiple impressions of Reclining Figure (1993) and After Constable’s Elm (2003), annotated with Freud’s proposed revisions—an insight into the meticulous, iterative nature of his creative process.

The exhibition also contextualises Freud’s work within the broader tradition of etching, juxtaposing his prints with those of artists who inspired him, including Rembrandt and Whistler. Yet Freud’s prints, often much larger in scale, stand apart in their unflinching examination of the human condition. They resist the urge to flatter or diminish, instead presenting the body as both a site of vulnerability and resilience.

Freud’s artistic legacy is deeply tied to his personal mystique. A grandson of Sigmund Freud, Lucian was a legendary figure in London, known for his high-stakes gambling and tumultuous love affairs, long before he was celebrated as a first-rate painter. His biography, explored in William Feaver’s two-volume work The Lives of Lucian Freud, paints a picture of a restless, driven artist whose obsession with truth extended from his canvases to his personal life.

The V&A’s exhibition, drawn from the 143 of Lucian Freud’s etchings acquired through the Acceptance in Lieu Scheme, offers a poignant reminder of Freud’s ability to bridge the physical and emotional realms of human experience. With its free admission, it invites visitors to confront the beauty and complexity of Freud’s vision up close.

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Feature Image: Cancellation proof of Self-Portrait. Reflection, 1996, etching by Lucian Freud. Museum no. E.317-2020 © The Estate of Lucian Freud. All Rights Reserved 2023, Bridgeman Images.

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