•Drawings
Drawing is the most immediate way of making your ideas, sensations, and information explicit.
— Euan Uglow
As drawing was an essential part of Uglow’s working process, I wanted to include a few examples. The works are wonderful in that the lines are searching and feel like they are searching for the answers. Whereas the paintings have a feeling of absolute conviction to the shapes and forms, the drawings show how hard Uglow worked to convey that sense.
Seated Nude detail (full drawing in larger image – click to see)
Holding ladder
Girl lying down
Nude standing on box in the doorway
Still life
If you’ve got the money, compared to his paintings they are much less expensive—£3000-£5000 versus prices starting around £70,000 for small paintings and a few hundred thousand pounds for the more iconic images.
Structured life
As artists, we often try to figure out ways to balance or structure our lives in order to paint in a regular manner. From and early point in his life, Uglow set up many rules and personal structures in order to focus almost exclusively on his painting. His life seemed to be completely controlled by rules which he set for himself: (as reported by friends) Mondays were dinner with his mother, Tuesday he would buy groceries, on Wednesday play table tennis, Thursdays dinner with friends, Fridays teaching at the Slade. He would only paint during the days and only draw during the night since the light was different (though, he later amended this in order to create the Night Painting series).
Uglow had a reputation for being stern and inflexible person because of all the structures that he employed helped him paint. But despite that reputation (according to friends), Uglow could be a very warm person to the people close to him.
Odd tidbits
•In the 1950’s Uglow showed with Frank Auerbach
•He was championed by David Sylvester and went with him to meet Giacometti in 1957.
•Lucian Freud wanted Uglow to sit for a portrait but Uglow refused as he felt that his time would be better spent making his own paintings.
•There is a video done of him painting Root Five Nude but unfortunately I have not been able to find any information about other than it was done in conjunction with a television show in the UK and have heard references to it.
•I found this negative but thoughtful review and thought others may be interested
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2003/jul/08/artsfeatures
•A couple of stories by Uglow’s models
http://www.modelreg.co.uk/Articles2.htm
at the end of the article a model seduced him to get out of posing
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2006/dec/16/art.architecture
•One of Uglow’s unfinished paintings gained a great deal of notoriety. In the 1970’s, Cherie Booth (later, Cherie Blair, Prime Minister Tony Blair’s wife) began posing for Uglow but after a few years she found the commitment to be too difficult and the painting was never finished (another model was hired to rework the concept). It was always rumored and denied until shortly after Uglow’s death, Cherie Blair admitted to having posed nude for Uglow as a student
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2000/sep/03/tonyblair.politics
Notes on Browse and Darby
While I was in London, I searched for galleries that presented work that falls into the scope of Painting Perceptions (and the type of work that speaks most directly to me). Browse and Darby stood out from all the other galleries in the quality of artists and seriousness that the work is presented with. The gallery is one of the best galleries that I know of for this type of work and opened the door for me to find a large number of great artists that were shown in the first posting of the Slade School. If you are in London, the gallery is really worth a visit (it’s right near the Royal Academy of Art). I also understand that they are planning to be at the Armory Show in New York in the spring. So if you can’t make it across the pond, I would really recommend a visit to their booth.
Not only are the living artists of interest but they also have great artists who have passed away (I sadly just missed a show of Gwen John). Also of interest are the catalogs that they usually have to accompany their shows. I found the people there to be incredibly helpful and responsive with enquiries and requests.
This is how they describe themselves:
Housed in an 18th Century building on Cork Street in the heart of London’s Mayfair, Browse & Darby first opened the doors to its’ iconic gallery in October 1977. In the three decades since, the gallery has continued to specialise in Contemporary British figurative work, as well as dealing in classic British and French paintings, drawings & sculpture. Browse & Darby began as a collaboration between distinguished art dealer and historian Lillian Browse and prominent art dealer William Darby. Lillian Browse retired in 1981 and William Darby has since taken on a consultancy position with the gallery; the gallery is now run by Joshua Darby and Charles Bradstock. In addition to holding regular exhibitions, Browse & Darby also acts in an art dealer capacity and has been retained to advise on all aspects of collecting art. The gallery also has access to top restorers and conservationists, as well as contemporary and more traditional framers.
Books and catalogs on Euan Uglow:
Euan Uglow: The Complete Paintings from Amazon.com
Please consider buying this book from the above link to Amazon. Doing this helps to support painting perceptions as we get a small percentage of the sale.
•An overview of this excellent catalog raisonné, Euan Uglow: The Complete Paintings by Catherine Lampert from Google books with portions of the text and images available for preview as well as several reviews.
from this link to Google books
•The catalog to the show Euan Uglow: A Personal Choice by his life long time friend the artist Craigie Aitchison gives a lot of color to Uglow the person and his methods. Information on how this catalog can be purchased from the Brown&Darby website can be found from this link.
Painting Perceptions was started in 2009 by Larry Groff to promote the ideas, practice and experience of painters working from observation in a modernist vein from around the world through interviews, essays, videos and community. It later evolved to include imagination-based and abstract painting as well.
I’d like to thank Mr. Plotkin for posting these articles, I have a whole new appreciation for these brilliant painters. Does anyone have any insight into Uglows limited palette? Other than the blue-black, yellow ochre ad vermillion mentioned in this article. I’m wondering what sort of palette he uses for those daylight paintings.
It matches his limited talent
Glad to see the Uglow article up. His work is fascinating and although I’ve seen alot of his work in reproduction (the Lampert book is a must have), I’ve yet to see one in person. It seems like his surfaces and color in print don’t them justice, so I look forward to the day when I can see a large body of his paintings in an exhibition. Great job on the links too…there’s a lot of interesting stuff written on him. Seems like a very peculiar guy, but his paintings display a great clarity of vision and light, something that can only be achieved with his kind of obsessiveness and devotion to the craft. I would have to agree with the writer of the Guardian article, that his figure paintings display a disturbing vision of humanity (my words), an almost clinical, life-lessness. However, his portraits do display a certain humanity to them…seems like people just freaked him out maybe? Anyway, thanks again Larry and Neil for showcasing some wonderful paintings
I think Uglow is to figurative painting what Morandi is to Still Life. I don’t think the work is a disturbing view of humanity – I find all of it to contain a quiet certainty, while at the same time purveying a mysterious otherness -like a general blueprint for “Human-ness’ or Fruit-ness” etc. They are endlessly intriguing, as is the artist. Mathematical precision and Magic are here, hand in hand – who’s a thunk it possible!
That is a a really great analogy. I have been struggling to find ways to describe Uglow’s work, and thats great.
I second that. Great observation by Gabrielle.
I have to disagree. Mirandi is nothing like Uglow. Uglows simplicity in figurse(the poses) don’t mean lack of ideas comparing with Mirandis stubborn repeatednes on stiffly placed similar objects. Examining Mirandis approach one scene comes to mind from the movie ‘the shining’ when th wife is discovering her husband’s madness by looking at his books manuscript…. she looks at repeatedly written same santance in the script of her husband…im not saying its not catchy! but if I where to judge any of his paintings…they are lifeless, wobbly, proportionally incorrect – even if that was the goal as it seems..its too naive for how advanced the painting is to be convincing for my taste…the same is to do with color sophistication…they are all pale…just try to compare one of uglows still – lifes(and he did quite a few, probably more then Mkrandis figugures if any) to any Mirandis…they are all different yet as finished as a music piece is…every brush stoke and patch of color makes sense in the way how chords progression and such make sanse in a piece…
If I was to compere Mirandis art I would go with L.Fraud, as his paintings are also lacking color intricacy, compositions and figure poses are quite stiff and random…. there is nothing to contemplate but maybe the artist biography:).Sorry for my poor English.
Sorry for mistake it Morandi not Mirandi
I have to disagree. Morandi is nothing like Uglow. Uglows simplicity in figurse(the poses) don’t mean lack of ideas comparing with Morandis stubborn repeatednes on stiffly placed similar objects. If I was to judge any of his paintings…they are lifeless, wobbly, proportionally incorrect – even if that was the goal as it seems..it’s too naive for how advanced the painting is to be convincing for my taste…the same is to do with color sophistication. Morandi uses similar very poor color pallet, and also makes them all the same or very similar in most of his paintings compering with music its like playing all the songs in 3 chords with the key of C…when in Uglow’s paintings they are all different yet as finished as a music piece is but …every brush stoke and patch of color makes sense in the way how chords progression and such make sanse in a music piece…
If I was to compere and find similar artist to Morandi in figurative painters I would go with L.Fraud, as his paintings are also lacking color intricacy, compositions and figure poses are quite stiff and random…plus he uses the same ‘color key’ all over his career… there is nothing to contemplate but maybe the artist biography.
Thank you for that kinder remark than some here! I think that anyone who is a serious painter and has studied the work of Coldstream and Uglow will understand the paintings. The minute exploration of ‘planes’ is something we all learned from him and although most of us do not make them obvious, as he did, we all learned the careful and analytical aproach to subjects whether it is a grapefruit or a posing model. He is a great and interesting painter and thankfully this site gives him due justice.
Is it possible that I am the only person bothered by the perspective of the rear stool legs in the first painting shown? Given Uglow’s very careful measuring and observation this presentation seems odd — as though the position of the stool were changed midway trhough the painting’s progress. Rather uncharacteristic.
I particularly enjoyed the models reminiscing about posing for him.
Daniel, I do not think the position of the stool was changed in the process of the paining. It seems like a standard timber chair with the back sawn off. Specifically modified furniture as someone else has mentioned
I see your point, Russell. Stools have evenly spaced legs. Some chair have front legs spaced differently than the back legs, so this could be a chair with the back sawn off.
Hi, Uglow specially constructed the stool in”Curled nude on a Stool” specifically to prevent what he described as a”violent” linear perspective. This painting is in the Hull, I’ve seen it several times. It is great.
The “stool” referenced is just a typical chair with the back cut off and the model is sitting on it sideways. The back legs are narrower set than the front legs. The POV of the “stool” is the rear view. I too was confused the first time I looked at this painting and then I realized I had this very same chair in my dining room. Uglow is amazing in his discernment of minute color shifts. He’s definitely one of my favorite artists.
Don’t worry about the stool legs! It is very simple, This did not start life as a stool, but a chair. We all have them (stools made out of old chairs with the backs cut off!) as they are much more comfortable than stools, either for the models or for sitting at an easel. Thankd for noticing that detail..Euan’s work deserves that sort of intelligent ‘looking’!
uglow built his own prop furniture, sometimes to make an object seem like a more pure geometric shape in a certain perspective. I’m pretty sure that table in The Wave is actually scalloped on the side, so that it becomes a perfect rectangle from his vantage point (if not for that painting, then maybe another?) Kind of related: the photo above, “Setup for Nuria,” appears to mark the floor according to what he sees from his POV when painting. so, the funny stool is probably funny on purpose.
It took me a long time to warm to Uglow. My initial reaction was similar to one mentioned above–that there was something cold and inhuman in all that measuring and little notch marks. Eventually though. I came to appreciate the persistence and toughness of these pictures. Breaking the figure and interior into all those little moments seems an extension of what Cezanne did. Eventually, the oddness of the pictures attracted me more and more, because in the end, they are all about his own looking and less about any sort of objective reality. He doesn’t try to trick the eye the way a photo-realist might, instead he shows what it is to be in a room and to scrutinize all that one sees, taking careful, careful notes.
I’ve seen some of them in person and the impression they leave is one of an austere, hard-won elegance. For all the time he took to paint them, he somehow doesn’t make them overwrought or tired. The drawings are simpler but the use of the blank white page is (as someone above remarked) recalls Morandi a bit.
Interesting works. I’m curious about the Set up for Nuria. Are the hatch marks to the correlate to the same points on the canvas? It seems it plays with the perspective. A bit unnecessary for some one who clearly has a technical capacity to draw. Or perhaps it’s for the planning stages? Really glad to have encountered this site.
“•There is a video done of him painting Root Five Nude but unfortunately I have not been able to find any information about other than it was done in conjunction with a television show in the UK and have heard references to it.”
If you ever find this please email me, post here, whatever. I’d love to see it.
This is a great little condensed Uglow blogpost, well done!
Thanks so much for the post, very interesting stuff on an artist I love. I would also love to see this video! Please, if you find it post a link.
The Guardian obituary says, “Some of the inventiveness and strain of pulling off paintings in progress for several years with living subjects was shared in London Weekend Television’s South Bank Show documentary that traced the creation of Root Five Nude (1976).”
I was able to find this listing: http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2b713428ba
but no footage.
It’s on You Tube now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqTTLQJ9ew8&t=534s
I must say the paintings made me very uncomfortable.
The scenes are disturbing.
All the admirers who wrote about the right angle and so on, did not even notice?
It is really a strange point of view.
Thank you for this post. I do not think that there is a late 20th or a 21st century figurative artist that is even comes close to Euan Uglow in importance. His draftsmanship is perfection without the tedious literalism of the photo-realists or the classic revivalists. His color is exquisite and has the sublime harmonies of Asian art. Uglow’s composition’s and figures are a deft combination of modernity and surprising originality. I know of no one better.
http://www.amazon.com/Euan-Uglow-The-Complete-Paintings/dp/0300123493
I bought this book- I believe it is his complete paintings. It is worth every cent for the insights and reproduction- plus great nuggets of real information about his process.
What impressed me- after the nudes were his clever stilllifes- I never like doing them but they gave a much needed jog to my imagination. I work from life so there is the inevitable down time when I can’t find a suitable model or the model is sick- or I am snowed in yada, yada.I noticed they were small, quirky, surprising and simple yet quite elegant. I am trying a small one for the first time- really- in my life- except for art school.
Sorry about this- did not see the link to the book. Mea Culpa.
This may interest readers of this blog, a talk by Martin Gayford on visiting Euan Uglow
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03yqt36
Dennis,
How wonderful- I am a figurative artist and inspiration like this keeps me going. Thank-you so much.
I am entranced with his work.
Hello!
I was wondering if anyone knows where I can see Uglow’s work in England? I’m planning a trip to London and would love to see some of his paintings in person but can’t seem to find much info on where they are located.
Any help is much appreciated.
thanks!
Gus
The problem with EU is most of his paintings are in private collections, however his dealer was Browse And Darby in Cork Street London.They may have some of his work and if you contact them before your visit maybe you may be able to see what they have, it is worth a try.
The Arts Council Collection has about 8 paintings by Euan Uglow, I’m not sure if you can ask for them to be available when you visit their Longside gallery.
Can anyone identify what medium used for the ‘marks’ on the oil painting? The same is used for (some) outline of the subject. Thanks in advance
I was taught by euan uglow, I battled with him and ranted and raved , he had the ability to be always right which at 16 was unforgivable., But guess what I remember every word, he was right and in time I learnt that magic is possible.
On a good day it is like a currant fizzing between the head the arm and the idea. You are in a bubble of lines and light.
On a bad day reach out for the shapes between the thorns and draw, draw and draw again