Lucian Freud (British, 1922-2011)


Head and Shoulders (Hartley 21) Etching, 1982, on wove paper, an unsigned printer's proof of the final, second state, before the edition of twenty, printed at Palm Tree Studios, London, trimmed outside the platemark on three sides, with a narrow margin at the right, two short indented lines in the lower right image, generally in good conditionPlate 248 x 298mm; Sheet 248 x 303mm.
|Head and Shoulders was Freud's first etched portrait of any considerable size since 1947. It was the first print where Freud reduced the plate size, at Auerbach's suggestion, to crop the picture at the top and focus the viewer's gaze firmly on the subject.ProvenanceAcquired directly from the printer.