Dimensions: support: 155 x 115 x 2 mm frame: 204 x 165 x 23 mm
Copyright: © The Lucian Freud Archive | CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 DEED, Photo: Tate
Curator: Lucian Freud, born in 1922, offers us this starkly intimate oil painting, "Boy Smoking." It resides here at the Tate. Editor: It's almost confrontational, isn't it? The close-up, the direct gaze... the cigarette feels symbolic. Curator: Absolutely. Consider the cigarette's cultural weight. It signifies rebellion, but also anxiety and social performance, especially within the context of masculinity. Editor: And that penetrating stare! What do you make of its psychological impact, the way it lingers with a kind of knowing cynicism? It makes me feel uncomfortable, and it's hard to turn away. Curator: Freud often explored the vulnerabilities beneath surface appearances. I wonder about the social pressures shaping this young man, and how he chooses to navigate them through this defiant act. Editor: Ultimately, a compelling and complicated portrait of youth in transition. Curator: Indeed, a poignant moment suspended in time, prompting us to consider the societal constructs around identity.
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tate about 1 month ago
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Boy Smoking 1950 is a small painting depicting the head of a young male shown close up so that his face fills most of the frame. The boy has pale skin, large blue eyes, a wide nose and thick lips, between which are placed a cigarette that has been partially smoked but is unlit. At the bottom of the picture is a dark grey band that may represent part of the boy’s torso or a flat surface on which he is resting his chin, and his hair, which is combed straight upwards, is cropped by the top of the picture. The boy stares out at the viewer with an ambiguous expression, although his brow is slightly furrowed and his eyes appear glazed, suggesting that he is lost in thought. A shadow runs down his left cheek and underneath his lips, while the cigarette in his mouth casts a vertical shadow down onto his chin. On the left side of the boy’s head is an area of white paint with two grey lines running diagonally across it, while the right side is mostly dark grey.
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