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.

 

Click here to buy a catalogue 

 

Press Release

 

E-catalogue

 

Scroll down to view installation shots of gallery

Hazlitt Holland-Hibbert street view, Bury Street, St. James's, London
Left to right: Girl in a Dark Jacket (1947), Girl’s Head (1946), Head of a Woman (1943–44), Portrait of a Man (1954), Head of a Poet (circa 1945), Girl in a Blanket (1952), Portrait of a Man (circa 1954)
Portrait of a Man (circa 1954)
Front Gallery (clockwise): Woman with a Tulip (1945), Portrait of a Man (1946), Head of a Girl (1946), Still Life with Aloe Plant (1948–49), Christian Bérard (1948), Girl in a Dark Jacket (1947), Girl’s Head (1946)
(Clockwise): Woman with a Tulip (1945), Portrait of a Man (1946), Head of a Girl (1946), Still Life with Aloe Plant (1948–49)
Still Life with Aloe Plant (1948–49)
Left wall: The Village Boys (1942), Back Gallery: Gerald Wilde (1943), Dead Heron (1945), Man at Night (Self Portrait) (1947–48)
Dead Heron (1945)
Back Gallery (clockwise): Stephen Spender (1940), Gerald Wilde (1943), Dead Heron (1945), Man at Night (Self Portrait) (1947–48)
Loch Ness from Drumnadrochit (1943)
Man in a Mackintosh (1957-58), A Woman Painter (1957–58), Head of a Woman (circa 1950)
Head of a Woman (circa 1950)
Left to right: Head of a Woman (1943–44), Portrait of a Man (1954), Head of a Poet (circa 1945)
Self Portrait (1956)
Left to right: The Birds of Olivier Larronde (1946), Bird in a Cage (1946)
Girl in a Dark Jacket (1947)