Two Men In The Studio

Angus Cook, a filmmaker who Freud clearly took a liking to, sat for the artist over the period of 1985-90, and is the subject of at least seven paintings and seven etchings. Like his other etchings of Cook, like Man Posing and Naked Man On Bed, this particular etching was produced alongside a painting with a similar composition. The fact that Freud decided to produce etchings alongside his painted portraits of Cook is testament to his preoccupation with the sitter. For Freud, it didn't particularly matter whether his sitter was male or female. Of prime important to him was engaging with his sitter on a deeply psychological level, so that he could truly understand and therefore represent them.

Though Freud rarely depicted men in his Naked Portraits, Two Men In The Studio is testament to his ability to capture his sitters with blunt honesty and psychological depth. Though the bodily proportions here aren't as biologically accurate as we might expect from Freud, he still captures the confident character of his sitter with great attention to detail.