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The Tate Britain bares all with a range of paintings on the naked form.
This year, the Tate Britain shows that art doesn’t have to be abstract: it can be physical, sensual and even tangible. In ‘All Too Human…’, the museum uncovers the history of British figure painting from the early 20th-century to the present day. The works of R.B. Kitaj, Leon Kossoff, F.N. Souza, Stanley Spencer, Michael Andrews and many others are included in a fully frontal exhibition on the human body.
Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon feature heavily as the movement’s leading exponents. The former said that he wanted the ‘paint to work as flesh does’, a sentiment reflected in the majority of his pieces. In ‘Sleeping by the Lion Carpet’ (1996), Freud’s model, Sue Tilley, is shown asleep in his studio. The piece has a sketchy and rough feel to it; however, it somehow manages to capture the texture, movement, colour and shape of the body with impressive accuracy and flair. Bacon’s work, on the other hand, often distorts and disrupts the human form. His ‘Three Figures and Portrait’ (1975) includes limbs and spines flying out at awkward angles, while an eerie black haze streams out of their chaotic movements. It’s an unsettling experiment in warping the body and makes you question the point at which a shape becomes recognisably human.
The Tate then looks at those who came before and after these pivotal artists. Figure painting’s forefathers, David Blomberg and Walter Sickert, are displayed in detail and, for the first time, the female contribution to the movement is acknowledged. For example, the gallery covers Jenny Saville and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, who both painted with a real sense of intimacy and liveliness in a traditionally male-dominated field. The latest in the lineage, such as Frank Auerbach and Paula Rego, also get some air time, ensuring that the exhibition offers the fullest and fleshiest overview of British figure painting possible.
The Tate Britain
Millbank,Westminster, London SW1P 4RG
Opening Hours
Daily, 10.00 - 18.00 (last entry 17.15)
Michael Andrews, 1928-1995 Colony Room I 1962 Oil paint on board 1219 x 1827 mm Pallant House Gallery, Chichester (Wilson Gift through The Art Fund, 2006) ©The Estate of Michael Andrews, courtesy of James Hyman Gallery, London.
Alberto Giacometti, 1901-1966 Woman of Venice IX 1956 Bronze 1130 x 165 x 346 mm Tate
Chaïm Soutine, 1893-1943 Landscape at Céret c.1920-1 Oil paint on canvas 559 x 838 mm Tate
David Bomberg The Artist's Wife and Baby 1937 Oil paint on canvas 766 x 562 mm Tate: Presented by Dinora Davies-Rees, the artist's step-daughter, and her daughter Juliet Lamont through the Contemporary Art Society 1986 © Tate
F.N. Souza 1924-2002 Two Saints in a Landscape 1961 Acrylic paint on canvas 1283 x 959 mm Tate © The estate of F.N. Souza
Francis Bacon, 1909-1992 Portrait of Isabel Rawsthorne 1966 Oil paint on canvas 813 x 686 mm Tate © The Estate of Francis Bacon. All rights reserved. DACS, London
Frank Auerbach, born 1931 Primrose Hill 1967-8 Oil paint on board 1219 x 1467 mm Tate © Frank Auerbach
Lucian Freud Sleeping by the Lion Carpet 1996 Oil on canvas Private Collection © The Lucian Freud Archive / Bridgeman Images Image courtesy Acquavella Galleries
Walter Richard Sickert - 1860-1942 Nuit d'Été c.1906 Oil paint on canvas 500 x 400 mm Private Collection, Ivor Braka Ltd
Paula Rego, born 1935 The Family 1988 Acrylic on canvas backed paper 2134 x 2134 mm Marlborough International Fine Art © Paula Rego
Cecily Brown, born 1969 Boy with a Cat 2015 Oil, pastel on linen 1092 x 1651 mm Collection of Danny and Lisa Goldberg © Cecily Brown Photo: Richard Ivey
Leon Kossoff, born 1926 Children's Swimming Pool, Autumn Afternoon 1971 Oil paint on board 1680 x 2140 x 56 mm Tate © Leon Kossoff
- Monday:
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10:00 - 18:00
- Tuesday:
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10:00 - 18:00
- Wednesday:
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10:00 - 18:00
- Thursday:
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10:00 - 18:00
- Friday:
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10:00 - 18:00
- Saturday:
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10:00 - 18:00
- Sunday:
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10:00 - 18:00