Lucian Freud: Early Works 1940-1958

In 2008 Hazlitt Holland-Hibbert presented the first exhibition in over ten years entirely devoted to Lucian Freud’s early work, focusing on the years 1940-1958.  The show was made up of 35 paintings and drawings, the earliest of which was made when he was just 17.  The exhibition charted the evolution of Freud’s vision in the early years from the period of, in the artist’s words, “maximum observation”, when he proceeded solely “by staring at my subject matter and examining it closely”, to 1954 and beyond when he wanted to deliberately “free myself from this way of working”. 

The exhibition was curated by David Dawson and Catherine Lampert, with support from the artist, and was accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue.  The catalogue includes many unseen private photographs from the period as well as two essays by Lampert.