The Painter's Garden

Maker

(artist)
1922-2011

Title

Date of Production

2003-2004

Medium

etching

Dimensions

Height: 76.8 cm (Sheet)
Width: 99.9 cm (Sheet)

Accession Number

G.2024.SP.5

Mode of Acquisition

HM Government Cultural Gifts Scheme, 2024

Credit

Accepted under the Cultural Gifts Scheme by HM Government from the archive of Studio Prints gifted by the Balakjian family and allocated to the Courtauld Gallery, 2024.

Copyright

Location

Not currently on display

Label Text

The Painter’s Garden depicts an outpouring of exuberant foliage. The vertical emphasis of the central tree grounds and concentrates the etching’s composition, in what might otherwise be a jumble of forms, lines, and shapes. Marc Balakjian, the printer with whom Freud worked on this etching, recalls the difficulty that The Painter’s Garden presented. In order to establish a coherent image, with depth and light, Balakjian wiped some areas of the print, including the middle distance, while left the tree and the central foreground dark. The various trial proofs (G.2024.SP.5, G.2024.SP.6, G.2024.SP.7, G.2024.SP.8) and their visible differences, reveal Balakjian’s experimental process, as well as the collaborative nature of the working relationship between artist and printer. Freud had to trust Balakjian’s expertise, which granted the printer agency and influence over the finished print. The Painter’s Garden is one of two prints Freud made of the garden at his home on Kensington Church Street in London during this period, alongside two paintings. The other print, titled Garden in Winter is also in the Courtauld Gallery’s collection (G.2024.SP.4).

Provenance

Studio Prints, London; accepted under the Cultural Gifts Scheme by HM Government from the archive of Studio Prints gifted by the Balakjian family and allocated to The Courtauld, 2024.

Literature

Treves, Toby, Lucian Freud : Catalogue Raisonné of the Prints. London : Modern Art Press, 2022.
fig. 32 on p. 38
pp. 37-39
This refers to the editioned print.

Inscriptions

Recto, lower right, graphite: 'AA'

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