The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of August 14, 2022

Portrait of Ib

1977–78

Lucian Freud

(British, 1922-2011)

England, 20th century

Oil on canvas

Framed: 63 x 53 x 7 cm (24 13/16 x 20 7/8 x 2 3/4 in.); Unframed: 50.7 x 40.6 cm (19 15/16 x 16 in.)

Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund 1979.15

Location

not on view

Fun Fact

Freud was the grandson of famed psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud.

Description

One of the greatest realist painters of the 20th century, Lucian Freud combines traditional rendering of the nude figure with modern expressiveness of paint on canvas. Though the artist has always focused on intimate portraits of family and friends, they are rendered with meticulous and sometimes unforgiving detail. This painting depicts Freud’s daughter Isobel as a teenager. For Freud, "the paint is the person," evidenced here in his liberal use of rich impasto.

Provenance
[James H. Kirkman, London; through Anthony d'Offay, London/Davis & Long, NY]
Citations
Lee, Sherman E. "The Year in Review for 1979." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 67, no. 3 (1980): 58-99. Reproduced: cat. no. 56, p. 80; Mentioned: p. 61 www.jstor.org
Exhibition history

"Year in Review 1979," Cleveland Museum of Art (1980).

"British Figurative Painting Today," Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, Conn. (Oct. 14, 1981 - Jan. 3, 1982), Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Calif. (Jan. 29 - Mar. 28, 1982).

"Lucien Freud," Anthony d'Offay, Ltd., London (Oct. 12 - Nov. 5, 1982).

"Portraiture: The Image of the Individual," Cleveland Museum of Art (Nov. 22, 1983 - Jan. 22, 1984).

Year in Review: 1979. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (February 20-March 9, 1980).

Portraiture: The Image of the Individual. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 22, 1983-January 22, 1984).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1979.15