Large Head
A monumental close-up portrait rendered in Lucian Freud's characteristically unflinching etching style, *Large Head* captures the sitter with raw psychological intensity through densely worked lines that sculpt the face with near-sculptural weight. The intricate cross-hatching and deep, probing marks reveal Freud's meticulous draftsmanship, building form and texture with an intimacy that feels simultaneously confrontational and deeply human. Printed on Somerset Satin Textured 300gsm paper with full margins, this second and final state reflects a deliberate refinement, with cleaned lines on the sitter's right shoulder distinguishing it from the rare unpublished trial proof that preceded it.
- Medium
- Etching, on Somerset Satin Textured 300gsm paper, with full margins, the second (final) state (there was an unpublished trial state of 1 or 2 proofs before the lines on the sitter's right shoulder were cleaned),
- Location
- Phillips, Salt Lake City, UT
- Spotted At
- Auction House · PhillipsView on map
🔨 Auction Lot
Lucian Freud 32 Etchings: From an Important American collection
October 15, 2015
Spotted works by Lucian Freud
Artists in conversation
Frank Auerbach
British · b. 1931
Auerbach shares Freud's obsessive focus on close up portraiture with immense psychological weight, repeatedly returning to the same sitters to build raw and sculptural depictions of the human face with dense layered mark making.
Käthe Kollwitz
German · b. 1867
Kollwitz mastered monochromatic printmaking and etching with deeply worked expressive lines that rendered faces with the same confrontational intimacy and emotional intensity visible in Freud's Large Head.
Georg Baselitz
German · b. 1938
Baselitz creates large scale figural portraits with bold expressionistic mark making and a raw psychological directness that mirrors Freud's unflinching approach to depicting the human subject with sculptural, heavily worked surfaces.
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