Courtauld Gallery Presents Frank Auerbach
London Building Sites 1952-62 Exhibition Review
Oct 16, 2009
Frank Auerbach: London Building Sites 1952-62 will be on view until 17th January 2010. The exhibition features a series of 14 building site paintings together with rarely shown oil studies and recently rediscovered drawings from the artist's sketchbooks.
London After the Blitz – A Source of Inspiration
Immediately after World War II London's devastation was a rich source of inspiration for Frank Auerbach. Oddly enough, he was one of the few artists to record the devastation and rebirth of the capital.
Auerbach was fascinated by the bombed sites, making many sketches and oil studies that eventually resulted in the group of 14 paintings now on view at The Courtauld Gallery.
The viewer must be willing to spend time looking at these images in order to really see and understand the subject matter. The paint, on all 14 paintings, is extraordinarily thick. Auerbach repeatedly worked, and reworked his surfaces, piling on the paint to develop each scene.
Highlights of the Exhibition
The exhibition opens with Summer Building Site (1952), the first in the series of building site paintings. The painting highlights an important stage in Auerbach's career. When interviewed by Barnaby Wright (editor of the exhibition catalogue) Auerbach said this painting marked "the beginning of my life as a painter" (Frank Auerbach: London Building Sites 1952-62, p.58).
Auerbach would almost certainly have made sketches or oil studies of the site but none have survived. A workman on a trestle ladder is immediately identifiable and other details gradually emerge as the viewer observes the initial devastation out of which architectural order emerges.
The Shell Building on London's South Bank
London's South Bank was an area of intense regeneration in the 1950s. The capital's first skyscraper, the 26-storey Shell Building, on the site of the 1951 Festival of Britain, was erected at a height of 351 feet. It was the first office block to exceed the height of the Palace of Westminster's Victoria Tower, and was only ten feet short of the spire of St. Paul's Cathedral.
Auerbach visited the Shell site on several occasions making sketches of the area from different vantage points. Some of these early drawings survive and are included in the exhibition. Also on display are pencil and oil sketches and photographs and three large-scale oil paintings including Shell Building Site: From the Thames (1959).
This is one of Auerbach's most celebrated paintings. He presents a tall crane dropping its cable into a deep excavation. A bright light appears to glow within the hole. The painting has a distinctive symmetry created by the crane, the cable and the arm of another crane.
According to Barnaby Wright, "The painting is also a vivid expression of Auerbach’s profound engagement with the work of Rembrandt", (ibid. p. 84). Auerbach spent many hours studying Old Masters at the National Gallery and was particularly pre-occupied with Rembrandt's The Lamentation Over the Dead, (also known as The Deposition, c. 1635). The painting can be seen on the National Gallery website.
The Oxford Street Building Site – John Lewis Department StoreOne section of the exhibition is devoted to the Oxford Street building site which became the John Lewis department store. The display features several smaller oil studies and a number of pencil sketches and photographs. The room is dominated by two magnificent large-scale versions of the same scene.
Frank Auerbach London Building Sites 1952-62 – Exhibition Catalogue
Frank Auerbach London Building Sites 1952-62 has been published to accompany the exhibition. The 128-page catalogue, is edited by Barnaby Wright and features 60 colour illustrations together with Auerbach's few surviving pencil sketches, oil studies and all 14 paintings from the exhibition. The catalogue is priced at £25.00 (Paul Holberton Publishing, ISBN: 978 1 903470 94 7.) Full details of the exhibition and publication can be obtained from The Courtauld Gallery.
Related Display: Building and Destruction – Architectural Imagery from The Courtauld Collection
An additional display of architectural imagery features sketches, oil paintings, engravings and water colours by Edward Dayes, Simon de Vlieger, John Constable, Giovanna Battista Piranesi, Hans Bol, Maarten van Heemskerck and many others.
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