Frank Auerbach b.1931
Head of Gerda Boehm, 1971
oil on board
13 by 13 inches


Provenance
Marlborough Fine Art, London
Ford Motor Company
Private Collection, UK

Exhibited
London, Marlborough Fine Art Frank Auerbach: Recent Work, April-May 1974, cat no.2 illus
London, Hayward Gallery, Frank Auerbach, May-July 1978, travelling to Edinburgh, Fruit Market Gallery, July-August 1978, cat no.98 illus

Literature
Robert Hughes, Frank Auerbach, London, 1990, pl.128



The pictures of Auerbach’s much older cousin Gerda Boehm executed between 1961 and 1982 were often made in close proximity and silence. The dependency common to many blood relations contributes to the anxiety conveyed. At times two versions of one pose register conflicting emotions, such as forebearance or disappointment; at others this happens within a single work, especially if he turns the canvas on its side as he does while working. Viewed obliquely Boehm’s diamond-shaped cranium and handsome features invite trust, but if we look again, from another vantage point, we see a beseeching, pinched carapace, and then a subdued gamine, gently dozing.