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Originally Posted by Cynthia Daniel
Here's a quote from Lucian Freud that I found on the Internet. Looks like he changed his mind about only doing heads:
Normally I underplay facial expression when painting the figure, because I want expression to emerge through the body. I used to do only heads, but came to feel that I relied too much on the face. I want the head, as it were, to be more like another limb.
- Lucian Freud, quoted by Michael Kimmelman (found at Constable.net)
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Well, Freud had his head screwed on right when it came to philosophy of art, but this painting is just not good!! His boredom seems to shine through more than the rather ham-fisted painting of the jewels on the crown. Drawing never seems to have come that easily to him, but persistence has helped him create many very powerful (although, perhaps, repetitive) pieces. I was very much impressed and influenced by his work as a student - a living realist painter, and a good one was hard to come by where I was then. In fact, he took up one half of my thesis topic (Francis Bacon the other). But with this painting of Queen Elizabeth he doesn't seem to have tried at all. Even if you're anti-royalty, there's something quite interesting, even surreal perhaps, about a royal lifestyle esp. in the contemporary world. And there should be something fascinating about the struggles, hopes - both personal and national - and suppression of instinctive drives of a human being, mother, wife and daughter in such a role.
It seems that you need the spark of youth, and, more importantly, the lack of recognition, to seize this opportunity.
The poor QE - is that truly all she deserves?
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