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His talent was another interesting thing about him. Frank Auerbach, an artist who died on November 11, painted so brightly that his work was truly heavy. (His canvas took a lot of effort to get it up as big as someone else.) Because so much impasto is so popular now – something that hotels put on their walls – it’s hard to understand how much polarization there was. mid-twenties. This, combined with Auerbach’s indifference to the world outside the Primrose Hill to Islington corridor, cost him. It wasn’t until the second half of his life that he found his commercial and critical acclaim as one of Europe’s leading artists.
What could be more exciting than such a task, then? His lack of introspection. Because no one needed to be curious. As a child, Auerbach was sent to Britain from Nazi Berlin by his Jewish parents, whom he would never see again. When asked about this incident, he would give us the following. “I just went.” “Life is too short.” “I’ve done this thing that psychiatrists hate, which is blocking things.” “There has never been a time in my life when I wished I had parents.” “I was not given to investigate myself.” When critics say that his art was “really” an expression of inner turmoil, he emphasizes how fun it was to create.
There is a point that needs to be constantly remembered in the arenas of big cities. Most people go through their lives without giving much thought to their inner self. This character is not only compatible with the working life, but it is successful and happy. It should not show “suppression” – even sometimes – as a lack of real interest in personal matters. Believing otherwise is one thing that has been recognized by liberal scholars from many fields. (And from a few well-educated people.)
It can also portray the West from what it is polite to call non-Western. According to the World Health Organization, the former has “psychiatrists working in psychiatric units per 100,000 people”. And this can’t be limited to things. In rich countries such as Qatar, UAE, South Korea and Japan, the number is three or less. In Western countries, they are many, and sometimes 100-plus. Perhaps the western route is better. Perhaps it has deep philosophical roots: in the middle of man since Socrates, without regret since Jesus, without regret since Descartes. But that and difference. The North Atlantic country, with its purchasing power in international affairs diminishing, needs to know how other regions think. Finding one can be very different from what you are. Don’t think that “British oppression” is the best among nations.
Of all the things I discovered when I went to the social center – that the microwave oven is naff, that “the south of France” is not “the south of France” – the most surprising was the strong belief of the bourgeois in the power of self-examination. , either in person or in the presence of a paid professional. (And this was Britain. Imagine the same social rise in upper-middle-class America.) I have no doubt that it does people good. I’m just afraid that some think it is, or should be, universal. Most people now do not date or be friends with the “non-self employed”. It’s more of a pool than you think, my friend.
Having attended three different Auerbach exhibitions in 2024 (the best of which is still at the Offer Waterman gallery in Mayfair), I qualify as an admirer of the work. But the personality behind it is very different. In a regular interview with Auerbach, the journalist tried to find his demons while the artist, without insult, and with bonhomie, showed that the wild goose was not worth chasing. Among the parts of his life, it was his work that was out of step with the times. In the end, he might have been the man.
Email Janan at janan.ganesh@ft.com
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