LONGLISTED FOR THE 2020 BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE
CHOSEN AS A BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE GUARDIAN, OBSERVER, THE TIMES, SUNDAY TIMES, DAILY TELEGRAPH, MAIL ON SUNDAY, FINANCIAL TIMES, NEW STATESMAN, SPECTATOR
THE SUNDAY TIMES ART BOOK OF THE YEAR 2020

'Explosively enjoyable, bursting with life and art ... A central figure as wild and beguiling as any character in literature' CRAIG BROWN

William Feaver, Lucian Freud's collaborator, curator and close friend, knew the unknowable artist better than most. Over many years, Freud narrated to him the story of his life, 'our novel'.

Fame follows Freud at the height of his powers, painting the most iconic works of his career in a constant pursuit of perfection, just outrunning his gambling debts and tailor's bills. Whether tattooing swallows at the base of Kate Moss's back or exacting a strange revenge on Jerry Hall and Mick Jagger, Freud's adventures were always perfectly characteristic. An enfant terrible till the end, even as he was commissioned to paint the Queen, what emerges is an artist wilfully oblivious to the glitter of the world around - and focussed instead on painting first and last.

'A dazzling tour de force' THE TIMES
'A wonderfully vivid chronicle' OBSERVER
'Does justice to Freud's pitiless genius' DAILY MAIL

William Feaver is a painter, curator, broadcaster and author, and was the art critic for the Observer for 23 years. He is on the Academic Board of the Royal Drawing School where he also tutors. He has produced films with Jake Auerbach including Lucian Freud Portraits. His book Pitmen Painters was adapted for the stage by Lee Hall. He curated Lucian Freud's 2002 retrospective at Tate Britain and in Venice, Barcelona and Los Angeles, and the 2012 exhibition of Freud's drawings in London and New York. He also curated the 2002 John Constable exhibition at the Grand Palais with Freud. He has sat, weekly, for Frank Auerbach since 2003. He lives in London.