FREUD, LUCIAN. (1922-2011). British painter and portraitist. ALS. (“Lucian”). ½p. 4to. N.p., November 6, 1974. To Mr. and Mrs. Ronnie Duncan (Yorkshire contemporary art collector Ronnie Duncan and his wife Henriette).
“I am so sorry I will not be able to come tonight as I am working. Thank you very much (in advance) for the grouse.
With apologies, and hoping you enjoy your dinner…”
A grandson of pioneering psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, Lucian Freud was born in Berlin but became a British subject after his family fled the Nazis in 1933. He spent his entire life working in London, becoming identified with the “School of London” artists, of which he and Francis Bacon are the best known. Influenced by German expressionism and Surrealism, Freud developed his own representational style, often juxtaposing his subject with an incongruous object or animal, to become one of Britain’s most prominent artists of the late 20th century.
A visionary art collector for more than six decades, Duncan “through great vision and creative curiosity, has developed an astonishing art collection and fostered friendships with some of Britain’s greatest artists,” (“Yorkshire Art Collector, Ronnie Duncan Bequeaths Major Gift of Art to Wakefield,” The Hepworth Wakefield website, hepworthwakefield.org/news/yorkshire-art-collector-ronnie-duncan-bequeaths-major-gift-of-art-to-wakefield/).
Written in pencil by Freud in his bizarrely childlike hand. Folded and in excellent condition. With the original envelope addressed in Freud’s hand to “Mr. & Mrs. Ronnie Duncan / By Hand.” Freud’s letters are scarce.
