Head of a boy

Lucian Freud

1953 · Charcoal and chalk on paper · Modern and Contemporary Art

This precise, uncomplicated drawing represents a boy with downcast eyes emerging from the sheet of paper, his head only partially visible. The stark realism and compressed space that characterize Freud’s graphic output of the 1950s are evident in this small portrait. Freud created this work at a time when he began to move away from drawing to concentrate on painted representations of the figure. Yet the artist’s focused depiction of the boy’s head reflects his career-long preoccupation with capturing both his sitter’s inner psychological state and the close relationship between artist and model. In these ways, it represents an important early precursor to the artist’s later painted works that display the same analytic intensity.

Artist

Lucian Freud

Date

1953

Medium

Charcoal and chalk on paper

Department

Modern and Contemporary Art

Credit line

Gift of Drue Heinz Trust, 2018