Sebastian Smee

Pulitzer Prize–winning art critic Sebastian Smee tells the fascinating story of four pairs of artists—Manet and Degas, Picasso and Matisse, Pollock and de Kooning, Freud and Bacon—whose fraught, competitive friendships spurred them to new creative heights. Rivalry is at the heart of some of the most famous and fruitful relationships in history. The Art of Rivalry follows eight celebrated artists, each linked to a counterpart by friendship, admiration, envy, and ambition. All eight are household names today. But to achieve what they did, each needed the influence of a contemporary—one who was equally ambitious but possessed sharply contrasting strengths and weaknesses. Edouard Manet and Edgar Degas were close associates whose personal bond frayed after Degas painted a portrait of Manet and his wife. Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso swapped paintings, ideas, and influences as they jostled for the support of collectors like Leo and Gertrude Stein and vied for the leadership of a new avant-garde. Jackson Pollock’s uninhibited style of “action painting” triggered a breakthrough in the work of his older rival, Willem de Kooning. After Pollock’s sudden death in a car crash, de Kooning assumed Pollock's mantle and became romantically involved with his late friend’s mistress. Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon met in the early 1950s, when Bacon was being hailed as Britain’s most exciting new painter and Freud was working in relative obscurity. Their intense but asymmetrical friendship came to a head when Freud painted a portrait of Bacon, which was later stolen. Each of these relationships culminated in an early flashpoint, a rupture in a budding intimacy that was both a betrayal and a trigger for great innovation. Writing with the same exuberant wit and psychological insight that earned him a Pulitzer Prize for art criticism, Sebastian Smee explores here the way that coming into one’s own as an artist—finding one’s voice—almost always involves willfully breaking away from some intimate’s expectations of who you are or ought to be. Praise for The Art of Rivalry “Gripping . . . Mr. Smee’s skills as a critic are evident throughout. He is persuasive and vivid. . . . You leave this book both nourished and hungry for more about the art, its creators and patrons, and the relationships that seed the ground for moments spent at the canvas.”—The New York Times “With novella-like detail and incisiveness [Sebastian Smee] opens up the worlds of four pairs of renowned artists. . . . Each of his portraits is a biographical gem. . . . The Art of Rivalry is a pure, informative delight, written with canny authority.”—The Boston Globe

Four Friendships, Betrayals, and Breakthroughs in Modern Art

The Art of Rivalry

"Picasso & Matisse. Manet & Degas. Pollack & de Kooning. Lucian Freud & Francis Bacon. This is the story of four pairs of artists-- each linked by friendship and a spirit of competitiveness. Taken together, they form an impressive lineage stretching across more than 150 years. But in each case, these relationships had a flashpoint, a damaging psychological event that seemed to mark both an end and a new beginning, a break that led onto new creative innovations"--

four friendships, betrayals, and breakthroughs in modern art

The art of rivalry

Lucian Freud

Unflinching truth British artist Lucian Freud (1922-2011) was widely considered the most important figurative painter of his generation. Master portraitist and specialist in nudes, Freud used impasto to create depth and intensity while restraining his color palette to mostly muted hues. His portraits may be physically unflattering to their subjects, but they are honest, frank, and unapologetic. "I paint people," Freud said, "not because of what they are like, not exactly in spite of what they are like, but how they happen to be." About the Series: Each book in TASCHEN's Basic Art series features: a detailed chronological summary of the life and oeuvre of the artist, covering his or her cultural and historical importance a concise biography approximately 100 illustrations with explanatory captions

Beholding the Animal

Lucian Freud is not only the most celebrated artist working in England, but one of the most private. He has frequently stated his reluctance to be photographed and he has almost never agreed to be interviewed.Following the publication of the last ten years of his work by Jonathan Cape in the autumn of 2005, the painter has agreed to talk to Sebastian Smee, a writer on art whom he greatly respects, in a series of conversations rather than formal interviews. He wants to talk about painting itself, the demands of his own work and the painters he admires. Two photographers have had access to Freud's studio. The late Bruce Bernard was a friend for many years and the subject of two of Freud's paintings. Bernard was an authority on photography, a great picture editor, and also a very fine photographer. He made a number of studies of Freud at work. Over the last five years in particular, Freud's assistant, the painter David Dawson, has been photographing the artist constantly.

Freud at Work

We live in an age of constant distraction. Is there a price to pay for this? In this superb essay, renowned critic Sebastian Smee explores the fate of the inner life in the age of the internet. Throughout history, artists and thinkers have cultivated the deep self, and seen value in solitude and reflection. But today, with social media, wall-to-wall marketing and the agitation of modern life, everything feels illuminated, made transparent. We feel bereft without our phones and their cameras and the feeling of instant connectivity. It gets hard to pick up a book, harder still to stay with it. Without nostalgia or pessimism, Sebastian Smee evokes what is valuable and worth cultivating- he guides us from the apparent fullness of the app-filled world towards a more complex sense of self, and the inner life. If we lose this, Smee asks, what do we lose of ourselves? "Every day I spend hours and hours on my phone . . . We are all doing it, aren't we? It has come to feel completely normal. Even when I put my device aside and attach it to a charger, it pulses away in my mind, like the throat of a toad, full of blind, amphibian appetite." Sebastian Smee, Net Loss

Sebastian Smee on the Inner Life in the Digital Age

Net Loss

A fascinating glimpse inside the world of one of the worl'd most celebrated artists combines 120 compelling photographs taken in the studio of Lucian Freud with an in-depth interview to reveal the stages in the artist's creation process and his intense interaction with his subjects.

Witness unapologetic portraits and precision worthy of a laboratory in this exploration into the oeuvre of renowned figurative painter Lucian Freud. A master of the human form who applied the same frank style and psychological rigor to sitters as varied as the Queen, Kate Moss, and an obese and naked job center supervisor. Direct and disarming, ..

Freud

Nel museo di Kitakyūshū si trova uno strano ritratto dei coniugi Édouard e Suzanne Manet, realizzato da Edgar Degas nel 1868-69. Una grande porzione di tela, questa la bizzarria, è stata asportata con una lama, tranciando il viso e il corpo di Suzanne. Ancora più sorprendente, il responsabile dello sfregio fu lo stesso Manet, maestro e amico di Degas. Che cosa era successo? Forse non era soddisfatto del risultato? O forse le radici del gesto affondano in qualcosa di più profondo e torbido? La storia dell’arte moderna è piena di storie simili: a meno di un anno dalla morte di Jackson Pollock in un incidente d’auto, il suo sodale Willem de Kooning iniziò una relazione con la sua ragazza, Ruth Kligman, l’unica sopravvissuta a quell’incidente; Pablo Picasso ha tenuto in bella vista in casa sua per tutta la vita il ritratto che Matisse fece alla propria figlia Marguerite, lo stesso ritratto che un tempo veniva usato da lui e dai suoi amici come bersaglio per il tiro a freccette; dieci anni dopo la morte di Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud ancora non voleva sentirlo neppure nominare, ma conservava gelosamente un suo grande dipinto, rifiutandosi di prestarlo per le mostre. A guardare bene, è possibile rintracciare uno schema. Ed è quello che fa in questo libro Sebastian Smee: immergendosi nelle vite di quattro coppie di artisti, ricostruisce gli incontri e gli scontri, i traumi, le invidie e le gelosie che hanno forgiato l’amicizia e l’influenza reciproca tra queste grandi personalità, di cui ancora oggi resta traccia, con la stessa intensità e la stessa fiamma, nelle loro opere. Attingendo a biografie, memorie, testimonianze e lettere, il critico e giornalista premio Pulitzer fa infatti emergere in maniera chiara il fondamentale apporto fornito da ognuno dei due “artisti rivali” nell’evoluzione del percorso artistico dell’altro. Una sfida reciproca a spingersi sempre più avanti nella sperimentazione, ma che li ha portati a lottare con ferocia per conquistare gli stessi collezionisti e gli stessi riconoscimenti. Ricco di storie e di idee, Artisti rivali indaga questa misteriosa dinamica tra riconoscimento e repulsione che ha scandito le tappe principali della storia dell’arte recente: è solo nel confronto, anche aspro, che ci si rivela migliori. «Sono sempre le opere a suggerirci che tante altre coppie di artisti furono unite da rivalità feconde come l’amore: rivalità nutrite - usiamo le parole ispirate di Smee - da “quella intimità che i manuali di storia dell’arte non raccontano”» — Tomaso Montanari , “la Repubblica” «Una storia dell’arte moderna raccontata attraverso quattro coppie di famosi artisti che furono amici e anche, in un mondo sottile, non facilmente decifrabile e affascinante, concorrenti» — Laura Crinò, “il Venerdì di Repubblica” «Ti ritrovi alla fine del libro soddisfatto e appagato, eppure ne vorresti ancora, vorresti che continuasse a raccontarti di arte, artisti e collezionisti, di tutte quelle relazioni umane che preparano il momento in cui l’opera prende forma su tela» — John Williams, “The New York Times” «Sebastian Seme, combinando perfettamente gusto artistico, comprensione della natura umana e prosa cristallina, ci racconta il dramma, talvolta farsesco, di artisti che sono stati fonte vicendevole di ispirazione e tormenti, spingendosi a raggiungere vette altrimenti inspiegabili» - Peter Schjeldahl, “The New Yorker”

Amicizie, tradimenti e rivoluzioni nell'arte moderna

Artisti rivali

We live in an age of constant distraction. Is there a price to pay for this? In this superb essay, renowned critic Sebastian Smee explores the fate of the inner life in the age of the internet. Throughout history, artists and thinkers have cultivated the deep self, and seen value in solitude and reflection. But today, with social media, wall-to-wall marketing and the agitation of modern life, everything feels illuminated, made transparent. We feel bereft without our phones and their cameras and the feeling of instant connectivity. It gets hard to pick up a book, harder still to stay with it. Without nostalgia or pessimism, Sebastian Smee evokes what is valuable and worth cultivating: he guides us from the apparent fullness of the app-filled world towards a more complex sense of self, and the inner life. If we lose this, Smee asks, what do we lose of ourselves? “Every day I spend hours and hours on my phone ... We are all doing it, aren’t we? It has come to feel completely normal. Even when I put my device aside and attach it to a charger, it pulses away in my mind, like the throat of a toad, full of blind, amphibian appetite.”––Sebastian Smee, Net Loss

The Inner Life in the Digital Age

Quarterly Essay 72 Net Loss

British artist Lucian Freud is widely considered the most important figurative painter working today. Master portraitist and specialist in nudes, Freud uses impasto to create depth and intensity while restraining his colour palate to mostly muted hues.

Sebastian Smee

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