Lucian Freud My Father-A personal portrayal: Sculpture by Jane McAdam Freud

LONDON.- This January, artist Jane McAdam Freud presents a large scale sculpture portraying her father Lucian Freud. It will be unveiled and exhibited for the first time in London’s Freud Museum – once home to her great grandfather, Sigmund Freud. Jane spent many hours with her father in the months before his death in July 2011 making sketches for this new work. It will be shown at the Freud Museum alongside other smaller scale work and preparatory sketches, from 25 January – 4 March 2012.

Although a great inspiration to her and a regular presence in her childhood, Lucian Freud became only an occasional figure in his daughter’s life as she grew up; when Jane was eight years old, father and daughter lost contact, only to reconnect when Jane was 31. By then she was respected artist herself, having established a reputation as a sculptor under the name of Jane McAdam. When they met again, Jane says: At that time I saw my father regularly and, over about six months, we made sculpture. While we sat for each other, modelling in wax, we chatted a lot and he taught me about light – to work from natural daylight or electric light, but not both at the same time. He taught me what it meant to really concentrate. He looked with every inch of his body, his muscles, and nerves, his whole being. We darted around each other looking at the forms; it was exhausting and demanding – but also enlivening and inspiring.

Some time ago, I asked him if he would sit for me. True to his word, he sat for me very recently. The last time I saw my father was shortly before his death, when I finished the sketches of him. I’ve now used them to make this large portrait sculpture. It helps me to keep him alive.

This personal portrayal depicts a large scale head of Lucian Freud titled EarthStone Triptych, made in terracotta and measuring 3ft x 3ft x 1ft. The other works on show are more intimate in scale and include preparatory sketches.

Jane McAdam Freud
Born in 1958 in London, Jane McAdam Freud is the daughter of Lucian Freud and Katherine McAdam. Her multi-disciplinary practice covers drawing, print, sculpture, medals and digital media. Jane received her first degree from Central School of Art, London, was awarded the British Art Medal Scholarship in Rome and is a graduate of the Royal College of Art. Her international shows include NY, LA, Taipei, Berlin and the Czech Republic. In June and July this year Hinged was shown at the Freud Museum of Dreams in St. Petersburg and HIStory shown at the Austrian Consulate Gallery in Cracow in September/October. In the UK her solo shows include the Ashmolean Museum-Oxford, Fitzwilliam Museum-Cambridge, Hunterian Museum-Glasgow, and Freud Museum-London where she was artist in residence in 2006. Jane’s work is represented in numerous major national and international public collections. The British Museum made their first acquisition in 1980 while she was a student at the Central. Other national collections include the V&A, National Gallery archives, Ashmolean and Fitzwilliam Museums. International public collections include the National Gallery of Greece, Berlin State Museum, National Museum of Copenhagen and the Carnegie Museum of Art and Brooklyn Museum USA. Jane has taught at many art schools and is an Associate Lecturer at Central St Martins, London and is a sculpture tutor at Morley College, London. She lives and works in London.

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