Is Lucian Freud’s Death the End of Figurative Painting?

Marching through the Met a few weeks ago, my family found ourselves suddenly in a room full of works by Francis Bacon, Frank Auerbach, and Lucian Freud. I motioned to my wife that we should shuffle through quickly to avoid troubling our 17-month-old son Jamie and 5-year-old son Alex, who just wanted to see some more of his favorite artist, Picasso. I remember thinking that, of the three, only Bacon was gone. Now, only Auerbach remains. Lucian Freud’s death a few days ago after a short illness at the age of 88 still is only sinking into the consciousness of those who think about art. Freud literally changed the face (and body) of portraiture in ways that even Bacon didn’t. Now that Freud is gone, some are asking if his end somehow marks the end of figurative painting itself. Please come over to Picture This at Big Think to read more of "Is Lucian Freud’s Death the End of Figurative Painting?"

[Image: Lucian Freud. Reflection (self portrait) (detail), 1985.]

How Samuel Morse Telegraphed a New Direction for American Art

When you hear the name Samuel F. B. Morse you most likely think about Morse code or the telegraph. In reality, Morse only co-invented the code that bears his name and simply contributed to the already developing technology of the telegraph. But nobody can take any credit away from Morse for his first love of and forgotten gift for painting. In A New Look: Samuel F. B. Morse's Gallery of the Louvre, which runs at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, through July 8, 2012, Morse’s talents as painter and teacher of painting are fully on display with the newly restored painting Gallery of the Louvre (shown above). In this exhibit we see just how Morse telegraphed a new direction for American art away from the unappealing alternatives of slavish devotion to the Western canon or awkward backwoods folk art and towards an appropriation of the best in art history tailored to fit the newly rising American nation. Please come over to Picture This at Big Think to read more of "How Samuel Morse Telegraphed a New Direction for American Art."

[Image: Samuel F. B. Morse, Gallery of the Louvre, 1831–1833, oil on canvas, Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Collection.]

[Many thanks to the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, for the image above and other press materials for A New Look: Samuel F. B. Morse's Gallery of the Louvre, which runs through July 8, 2012.]