Beschreibung:

FRANK AUERBACH (B. 1931)Portrait of Debbie Ratcliff III 1984 oil on canvas 66 by 66 cm. 26 by 26 in. This work was executed in 1984. FootnotesProvenance Marlborough Fine Art Ltd., London (no. 35238.6) Acquired directly from the above by the present owner in 1984 Exhibited Venice, XLII Biennale di Venezia, British Pavilion, Frank Auerbach Paintings and Drawings 1977-1985, 1986, p. 50, no. 32, illustrated in colour Hamburg, Kunstverein; Essen, Museum Folkwang, Frank Auerbach 1986-1987, p. 72, no. 37, illustrated in colour Madrid, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Frank Auerbach Retrospectiva, 1954-1985, 1987, p. 68, no. 37, illustrated in colour Literature Robert Hughes Frank Auerbach London 1990, p. 208, no. 215, illustrated in black and white William Feaver Frank Auerbach New York 2009, p. 294, no. 505, illustrated in colour Frank Auerbach's Portrait of Debbie Ratcliff III is a masterly and empathetic painting which formed the third of a trio of portraits of his model and muse Debbie Ratcliff that were first unveiled at the 42nd Venice Biennale in 1986, where Auerbach was awarded the Golden Lion, sharing the prestigious prize with Sigmar Polke Hailed as one of the most influential painters of the 20th century, Frank Auerbach is celebrated for his expressionistic portraits and cityscapes characterised by his distinctive and gestural impasto technique. Auerbach was born in Berlin in 1931. Arriving in England as a Jewish refugee in 1939, he attended St Martin's School of Art, London, and studied with David Bomberg in night classes at Borough Polytechnic, before culminating his final studies at the Royal College of Art. His first exhibition was held at London's Beaux Arts Gallery in 1956. Initially Auerbach was criticised for his thick application of paint, but found support from the critic David Sylvester who identified the exhibition as one of the most exciting and impressive debut solo-shows by an English painter since Francis Bacon By the early 1960s, Auerbach had established himself among the ranks of what would later become known as the School of London, a group that included Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon Bacon shared much of Auerbach's sensibility: the two artists favoured painterly intuition over carefully studied precision, viewing painting as a means of pinning down human expression. However, despite his affiliation with the School of London artists and comparisons to Bacon, Auerbach also sought to engage in the explicit dialogue with the art historical canon, and cites numerous old and modern masters as influences, including Rembrandt, Rubens, Titian, Constable and Picasso. Auerbach would continue to exhibit regularly at the Beaux Arts Gallery until 1963, before joining Marlborough Gallery in 1965. Today his works are amongst the most internationally collected and desirable amongst all living artists. Beautifully positioned within the square canvas, Debbie Ratcliff sits composed and elegant, her angular shoulders asymmetrically filling the composition. Auerbach employs rich swathes of crimson, green hues, and vibrant yellows to build his portrait. There is a meditative, emotional quality to his paint; Auerbach's heavy impasto can take months to build up and scrape back, he paints slowly and methodically revealing an intense observation of his subject. He makes his mark with authority and finality, pushing abstraction to the limit while still capturing the essence of his sitters. Auerbach first met Ratcliff at the Slade School of Art in 1983. He was reportedly drawn to her strongly defined features and initially had her pose reclining on a bed. It was in the second sitting that Auerbach decided to seat her instead on a chair facing him; the pose would continue in all three of these portraits the artist created of her. Over the course of Ratcliff's sittings for him, the two would come to relax in one another's presence, enjoying conversations about art and literature. Auerbach is credited with making