Sixth Form students enjoyed a fascinating visit to the National Portrait Gallery in February to see the current Lucien Freud exhibition. Freud was famed for his naked full-length portraits which used layers of oils to depict the sitter’s flesh in minute detail – creating unforgiving and often unflattering images.
Georgie Hamp was interested to see how his work changed over the years. ‘As time progresses we can see that his style changes. He gradually begins to use paint more thickly. He uses a range of tones, modelling the flesh to look almost naturalistic. He begins to focus on nudes and concentrates on the depiction of the human form.’
The students have been producing their own versions of Freud’s work as well as creating their own portrait paintings in his very painterly style. This has enabled them to further develop their own individual mark-making abilities, ranging from the figurative style of Freud to the semi-abstract influence of painters such as Francis Bacon and Jenny Saville. The final results are quite unique, yet still retain the influence of these great painters.