Lucian Freud was one of Britain’s most significant artists, responsible for some of the most coveted paintings of the 20th century. But the process of sitting for a portrait by him was no easy business, according to the man who acted as Freud’s dealer for almost 20 years.
For one thing, not everyone made the cut. “He had to like something about the person before he would work with them. Plenty of people he turned down,” Bill Acquavella said.
One of those unlucky people was Andrew Lloyd Webber, who was rejected despite Freud being a fan of his music. “Obviously successful, he was willing to pay a handsome price … I call up Lucian: ‘This is great, he wants to do this.’ He just says to me, ‘His face is too soft’,” Acquavella said.
Even if Freud had embarked on a portrait, the sitter wasn’t necessarily out of the woods. One art collector suffered the indignity of rejection two months after Freud had begun painting him, having invited him to sit: “I get a call from Lucian, [saying] ‘I can’t stand this guy … and I don’t want him around here any more’.”
When Acquavella explained the difficulty of abandoning the painting because the man had insisted on buying it before it was even finished, Freud drastically reduced the picture’s size, which was originally about 25 by 22 inches: “He cuts it over the eyes, down to the chin, and under the chin and up, so this picture is now about the size of a notepad. He says, ‘Well, this is the picture, if he wants it.’ The price was… [originally] £2m or something … It became a picture of £700.”
Fortunately, money had not yet changed hands. Acquavella said: “[Lucian] said, ‘Whatever you do, do not sell it to this guy’.” He added that, though small, it was still a good picture: “It wasn’t a matter or whether it was good or bad … [but] that he didn’t like the guy and didn’t want him to have it.”
He recalled that another collector called him a year later: “He says, ‘you’ve got a small portrait of a man’s head … That guy’s a friend … I want to buy it for him.’ So I had to tell Lucian. We were very close… He says, ‘OK … sell it to him ’… I’ve never seen it again.”
Acquavella spoke ahead of staging a major loan exhibition at the Acquavella Galleries, New York, from 5 April to 24 May. Curated by David Dawson, the artist’s friend and studio assistant for 21 years, Lucian Freud: Monumental will include exhibits from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, among other important collections. The show and an accompanying book will include some of Freud’s favourite models, such as the performance artist Leigh Bowery, whose impressive physique so inspired him.
Exhibits will include Large Interior, Notting Hill, a painting that was originally intended to include a portrait of the model Jerry Hall nursing the baby she had just had with her then partner, Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones.
Acquavella said: “Six months go by and I get a call from Lucian … He said, ‘Bill, I want you to be the first to know the picture’s had a sex change … Jerry Hall didn’t show up for two sittings so I changed her into a man.’ He put David Dawson’s head on her body. So of course Jagger went crazy … I thought I’d have trouble selling the picture. The first person that saw it, bought it. It was an amazing picture.”
He added: “Lucian was just obsessed with his work. If you were sitting for him, and you didn’t show up, that was the worst thing you could do.”
