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- © The Estate of Bruce Bernard
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Leigh Bowery posing for Lucian Freud with the painting ‘Leigh under the Skylight’, 1994
Bruce Bernard
- © The Estate of Bruce Bernard
Bruce Bernard
Leigh Bowery posing for Lucian Freud with the painting ‘Leigh under the Skylight’, 19941994The flamboyant performance artist Leigh Bowery (1961-1994) was a favourite model of Freud. He first saw Bowery perform at the Anthony d’Offay Gallery in London, when he appeared in a variety of colourful and dramatic outfits. The artist became fascinated by this strange figure - the shape of his body, tone of his skin and his monumental presence. Freud prefers to know his models well in order to portray them most effectively. He made several paintings of Bowery over a period of four years, during which time they became friends. It was a relationship of mutual inspiration, as Freud considered his model to be ‘perfectly beautiful’ and Bowery loved to pose for Freud. He explained that, ‘because he is an artist who always works in the figurative idiom he has given me lots of ideas’.
Glossary Open
Performance art
Works in which the actions of the artist constitute the art. Artists have used performance techniques throughout the 20th century but the term is usually applied to works from the 1960s onwards.
Details
- Accession no. GMA 4707
- Medium Colour C-type print on paper (printed 1996; 11/25)
- Size 46.00 x 31.70 cm (paper: 50.80 x 40.50 cm)
- Credit Presented by the Estate of the Artist, 2003
Bruce Bernard (English, 1928 - 2000)
Bruce Bernard is best known for his work as Picture Editor on the ‘Sunday Times’ magazine during the 1970s, and as an influential writer on art and photography. He studied at St Martin’s School of Art and although he did not complete his course, he developed the art knowledge and critical faculties which became central to his later career. In the 1950s, Bernard frequented the bohemian haunts of London’s Soho with his journalist brother Jeffrey Bernard, mixing with artists and writers. During this time he became friends with many artists, including Michael Andrews, Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud, who were to feature in a series of photographs showing artists in their studios. Most of Bernard’s photographs were taken during the last twenty years of his life, from 1980.