Historically Naked

The Island Adventures of Freud and Craxton

 In the summer of 1945, Lucian Freud and John Craxton (English artist and friend of Freud) decided to get away from London and adventure to St. Mary’s to spend some time sketching the island and the archipelago. These two were a charming pair (both aged 22 at the time) with vastly different personalities. Lucian Freud was solitary and unruly, which contrasted perfectly with Craxton's charismatic personality. They found inspiration in each other and often painted each other or worked on the same piece together. They were genuinely captivated by the beauty that the island had to offer.  Their ultimate goal was to go to Paris after visiting St. Mary’s and see a Picasso exhibition. However, they were discovered as stowaways on their way to Paris and brought back to St. Mary’s Isles of Scilly. The Isles of Scilly are where Freud began to paint his landscapes which marked the beginning of Freud’s rise to becoming an important figure of post-war modern painting in Britain. A famous painting he created during his time on the island is called Scillonian Beachscape (1945-1946). Freud's time spent on this island allowed him to fully immerse himself in the idea and act of painting the natural world. 

The Slade School of Fine Arts

The Slade School of Fine Arts was founded by Felix Slade in 1871. Felix Slade created this school with the intentions of it being a school for art within a liberal arts university. Also, the Slade School allowed women to study at the same level and terms as men which was not common at the time.

 Lucian Freud worked at this school for about 5 years. During Freud’s time working as a visiting lecturer at the Slade school is when he was introduced to a dense paint called Cremnitz White. Cremnitz White is a type of oil paint that is a fast-drying paint that is an opaque white with a reddish-yellow undertone. He decided that this paint would be ideal for painting flesh tones and thus began his work with nude paintings. The first full-length nude painting he created was in 1963 of his eldest daughter, Annie Freud. The painting was titled A Naked Child Laughing. Without the Slade school, Freud may never have discovered this paint and the Naked Girl painting may never have been created. Also, Freud's time tutoring at the Slade School was when he truly started to mature in his art and began to focus mainly on portraits and nude paintings. The style of creating thickly textured paintings with large brush strokes and various colors of flesh tones that he developed during his time at the Slade School is what he is arguably most known for now.

Women's Liberation Movement

Annie Freud, the eldest daughter of Lucian Freud, described British culture during the time she posed for her father naked as “prudish”. However, towards the late 20^th century, including the 1960s (when the Naked Girl was created) there began to be a push for greater sexual freedom, feminist explorations of sex, sexuality, love, and justice coming from the women of Britain. This movement greatly contrasted with the values that late 19^th century Britain held of chastity and modesty for women. For many people, sex was just seen as a way of procreating. Women were not expected or encouraged to take pleasure in the act. Now, women wanted more control over their bodies and thus the women’s liberation movement gained more traction. While the painting of Annie Freud as a young girl is a bit off-putting at first, it is a form of women’s liberation. Women all were once girls and now, that idea of a teenage girl getting to explore her sexuality and understand herself freely is evident in the painting. The movement allowed for more of an appreciation for this painting. The subject of this painting is fully exposed, and the women’s liberation movement in Britain made this feel less crude and more beautiful than it would have been in years prior. The inclusion of the girl’s face can be viewed as pro-feminist and an appreciation of the human body rather than an exploitation of it that can often be felt in headless paintings of women.

The reason that I offered that background concerning those three events is that it helps me to explain what the Naked Girl was doing socially/culturally when Lucian Freud created it. Freud chose to paint some of his children nude, not to be a pervert or sexualize them. He painted them because he felt that it was a beautiful and natural thing. He felt that the painting sessions made him feel closer to his children. The events on the timeline allow the viewer of the Naked Girl to take a step back and look at the bigger idea that Freud had in mind when painting this piece. He was simply pushing the boundaries of what society felt was “normal” or “appropriate” to paint. Without people pushing boundaries (like the women in the women’s liberation movement) there would be no progress. Art is supposed to make the viewer think and maybe even feel uncomfortable. That is what Freud wanted. The viewer may even need to take the time now to take back their judgmental gaze and truly appreciate the naturalness of the painting. Annie, the subject of the painting, did not feel that there was anything sexual or inappropriate about being painted nude by her father. If the subject of the painting and the painter themselves do not see anything inherently sexual or bad about the work they have created, then the opinions of outsiders ultimately don’t matter. Each event on the timeline gives context to different parts of the painting itself. Freud’s adventures on St. Mary’s give background on how he began his art career which lead to the creation of this beautiful and natural painting. His work at the Slade School further exposed him to new types of paint which allowed for the depth, texture, and tones used in the Naked Girl. Lastly, the women’s liberation movement happening at the time of the painting gives a different edge to its meaning. Girls’ bodies should not be seen as a sexual entity. It is the viewer that forces that upon subjects like Annie. Women were taking the control back of their bodies and, to some extent, Freud painting his daughter empowered her.

Citations:

Artincontext. “Lucian Freud - Taking a Look at Lucian Freud's Art and Biography.” Artincontext.org, 3 Oct. 2022, https://artincontext.org/lucian-freud/.

Greig, Geordie. “Lucian Freud as Father: How He Painted His 14-Year-Old Daughter Naked-and How She Reacted.” Vanity Fair, 17 Oct. 2013, https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2013/10/lucian-freud-nude-portrait-d….  

“Lucian Freud: Master Portrayer of the Human Form.” TheCollector, 25 Apr. 2020, https://www.thecollector.com/lucian-freud/.

Lucian Freud – Social and Cultural Influences - Boroughmuir High School. http://boroughmuirhighschool.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Freud-Socia….

“Michael Harding Artists Oil Color - Cremnitz White (Walnut Oil), 40 Ml Tube.” Michael Harding Artists Oil Color - Cremnitz White (Walnut Oil), 40 Ml Tube | BLICK Art Materials, https://www.dickblick.com/items/michael-harding-artists-oil-color-cremn….

Person. “Two Freud Paintings Revealing a Love of Nature That Led His Father to Call Him 'a Wild Animal': Christie's.” Lucian Freud's Scillonian Beachscape and Garden from the Window | Christie's, Christies, 10 Feb. 2023, https://www.christies.com/features/lucian-freuds-love-of-nature-12638-1…;

Images:

Freud, Lucian. Naked Girl. 1966. https://www.wikiart.org/en/lucian-freud/naked-girl-1966Links to an external site.. Accessed 15 Feb. 2022.

Women’s Liberation:

Google Image Result for Https://Www.bl.uk/Britishlibrary/~/Media/Bl/Global/Sisterhood/Banners/Sisterhood-Health-Reproduction-Thumb.jpg, Google, https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bl.uk%2Fbritishl….

Scillonian Beachscape:

“Lucian Freud's Rare Explorations of Landscape to highlight20th / 21st Century: London Evening Sale Next Month.” Christie's, Christie's, 20 Jan. 2023, https://www.christies.com/about-us/press-archive/details?PressReleaseID….

Slade School:

Google Image Result for Https://Upload.wikimedia.org/Wikipedia/Commons/d/Da/Slade_School_of_Fine_Art_%2816694041931%29.Jpg, Google, https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fupload.wikimedia.org….