Frank Auerbach: The Sitters

Frank Auerbach: The Sitters was the first dedicated overview of the artist's portrait heads. Including over forty paintings and drawings, the exhibition explored the special connection between Auerbach and his 'sitters' - the dedicated models who have attended weekly sessions over months, years, then decades. 

A range of work made between 1956 and 2020 was on display. Early portraits of his long-serving sitters 'E.O.W.' and 'J.Y.M.' were hung with recent self-portraits and a painting of his wife Julia, exhibited for the first time. Paintings and drawings of all Auerbach's regular models were be shown, from Gerda Boehm and Helen Gillespie to Catherine Lampert, his son Jake, David Landau and William Feaver. These images quiver with animation, translating the artist's raw visual sensations into forms that convey with unexpected specificity a sitter's character and physical presence.

Shown together for the first time as part of the exhibition, Nicola Bensley's significant photographs of the artist in his studio provide a rare insight into Auerbach's world. The series Frank Auerbach: A Morning in the Studio opens a window onto the artist's character and his paint-encrusted working environment.

The accompanying publication provides an essential guide to Auerbach's portraits. It includes a complete list of the artist’s sitters compiled here for the first time, an essay by William Feaver describing the experience of sitting, and an interview with Martin Gayford in which Auerbach explains his process. The publication also explores the artist's friendship with the art historian Michael Podro, with a personal memoir by Podro's daughter Natasha.