Frank Auerbach, British-German Painter, dies at 93

Born in Berlin in 1931, Auerbach came to England in 1939, arriving in London as a refugee from Nazi Germany as one of six children sponsored by the writer Iris Origo.  From 1948 to 1955 he studied at St Martin’s School of Art and the Royal College of Art, London.

He lived and worked in the same North London studio since 1954, dedicating himself to his work 364 days a year. Auerbach held his first solo show in 1956 at the Beaux Arts Gallery in London, at the invitation of art dealer Helen Lessore. His work, while criticized by some for his heavy-handed application of paint, was praised by critic David Sylvester, who said the exhibition was “the most exciting and impressive first one-man show by an English painter since Francis Bacon in 1949.”

He represented Britain at the 1986 Venice Biennale, winning the Golden Lion top prize. Three years later, in 1989, he held a solo exhibition at the Rijksmuseum Vincent Van Gogh in Amsterdam. Recently, Frank Auerbach exhibited the Charcoal Heads at the Courtauld Gallery and received with great acclaim.

‘It’s possibly true that our deepest experiences are other people,’ he told the Guardian in 2023. ‘I do think subject matters. And it seems that the only thing worth using for one’s art is one’s deepest experiences.’ He added that drawing and painting helped him understand his relationship to people, including his companions and friends. Auerbach was also painted by his artist friends, most notably, Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud created portraits of the artist in 1964 and 1974–75, respectively.

Main Image: Frank Auerbach by David Dawson, Courtesy Frankie Rossi Art Projects