Modernists and mavericks Bacon, Freud, Hockney and the London painters Martin Gayford [aut].

By:

Gayford, Martin [aut]

Material type: Text

TextPublication details: London Thames & Hudson 2018Description: 352 pages : illustrations (some colour), portraits 24 cmISBN:

9780500239773
0500239770

Subject(s):

DDC classification:

759.206 GAY

Abstract: The development of painting in London from the Second World War to the 1970s has never before been told before as a single narrative. R. B. Kitajs proposal, made in 1976, that there was a substantial School of London was essentially correct but it caused confusion because it implied that there was a movement or stylistic group at work, when in reality no one style could cover the likes of Francis Bacon and also Bridget Riley. Modernists and Mavericks explores this period based on an exceptionally deep well of firsthand interviews, often unpublished, with such artists as Victor Pasmore, John Craxton, Lucian Freud, Frank Auerbach, Allen Jones, R. B. Kitaj, Euan Uglow, Howard Hodgkin, Terry Frost, Gillian Ayres, Bridget Riley, David Hockney, Frank Bowling, Leon Kossoff, John Hoyland, and Patrick Caulfield. But Martin Gayford also teases out the thread weaving these individual lives together and demonstrates how and why, long after it was officially declared dead, painting lived and thrived in London. Simultaneously aware of the influences of Jackson Pollock, Giacometti, and (through the teaching passed down at the major art school) the traditions of Western art from Piero della Francesca to Picasso and Matisse, the postwar painters were bound by their confidence that this ancient medium could do fresh and marvelous things, and explored in their diverse ways, the possibilities of paint.

Holdings
Item type	Current library	Call number	Status	Date due	Barcode
Standard Loan	LSAD Library Main Collection	759.206 GAY (Browse shelf(Opens below))	Available		39002100638189

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

The development of painting in London from the Second World War to the 1970s has never before been told before as a single narrative. R. B. Kitaj's proposal, made in 1976, that there was a "substantial School of London" was essentially correct but it caused confusion because it implied that there was a movement or stylistic group at work, when in reality no one style could cover the likes of Francis Bacon and also Bridget Riley.

Modernists and Mavericks explores this period based on an exceptionally deep well of firsthand interviews, often unpublished, with such artists as Victor Pasmore, John Craxton, Lucian Freud, Frank Auerbach, Allen Jones, R. B. Kitaj, Euan Uglow, Howard Hodgkin, Terry Frost, Gillian Ayres, Bridget Riley, David Hockney, Frank Bowling, Leon Kossoff, John Hoyland, and Patrick Caulfield. But Martin Gayford also teases out the thread weaving these individual lives together and demonstrates how and why, long after it was officially declared dead, painting lived and thrived in London. Simultaneously aware of the influences of Jackson Pollock, Giacometti, and (through the teaching passed down at the major art school) the traditions of Western art from Piero della Francesca to Picasso and Matisse, the postwar painters were bound by their confidence that this ancient medium could do fresh and marvelous things, and explored in their diverse ways, the possibilities of paint.

The development of painting in London from the Second World War to the 1970s has never before been told before as a single narrative. R. B. Kitajs proposal, made in 1976, that there was a substantial School of London was essentially correct but it caused confusion because it implied that there was a movement or stylistic group at work, when in reality no one style could cover the likes of Francis Bacon and also Bridget Riley.

Modernists and Mavericks explores this period based on an exceptionally deep well of firsthand interviews, often unpublished, with such artists as Victor Pasmore, John Craxton, Lucian Freud, Frank Auerbach, Allen Jones, R. B. Kitaj, Euan Uglow, Howard Hodgkin, Terry Frost, Gillian Ayres, Bridget Riley, David Hockney, Frank Bowling, Leon Kossoff, John Hoyland, and Patrick Caulfield. But Martin Gayford also teases out the thread weaving these individual lives together and demonstrates how and why, long after it was officially declared dead, painting lived and thrived in London. Simultaneously aware of the influences of Jackson Pollock, Giacometti, and (through the teaching passed down at the major art school) the traditions of Western art from Piero della Francesca to Picasso and Matisse, the postwar painters were bound by their confidence that this ancient medium could do fresh and marvelous things, and explored in their diverse ways, the possibilities of paint.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

Introduction (p. 6)
1 Young Lucian: Art in Wartime London (p. 11)
2 Pope Francis (p. 22)
3 Euston Road in Camberwell (p. 40)
4 Spirit in the Mass: the Borough Polytechnic (p. 59)
5 Girl with Roses (p. 69)
6 Leaping into the Void (p. 88)
7 Life into Art: Bacon and Freud in the I950s (p. 107)
8 Two Climbers Roped Together (p. 125)
9 What Makes the Modern Home so Different? (p. 137)
10 An Arena in which to Act (p. 158)
11 The Situation in London, 1960 (p. 175)
12 The Artist Thinks: Hockney and his Contemporaries (p. 194)
13 The Grin without the Cat: Bacon and Freud in the 1960s (p. 206)
14 American Connections (p. 225)
15 Mysterious Conventionality (p. 246)
16 Portrait Surrounded by Artistic Devices (p. 267)
17 Shimmering and Dissolving (p. 290)
18 The Non-Existence of Acton (p. 313)
Epilogue (p. 334)
Notes (p. 340)
Bibliography (p. 344)
Picture Credits (p. 346)
Acknowledgments (p. 347)
Index (p. 348)

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Martin Gayford is a writer and art critic. His books include Man with a Blue Scarf: On Sitting for a Portrait by Lucian Freud; Modernists and Mavericks: Bacon, Freud, Hockney and the London Painters; A History of Pictures: From the Cave to the Computer Screen and Spring Cannot Be Cancelled: David Hockney in Normandy, both with David Hockney; Shaping the World: Sculpture from Prehistory to Now, with Antony Gormley; Love Lucian: The Letters of Lucian Freud, 1939-1954, with David Dawson; and Venice: City of Pictures.