Constable in Paris - Report from Europe - exhibit Constable: Le choix de Lucian Freud

Magazine Antiques, Oct, 2002 by Miriam Kramer

The last time John Constable exhibited his work in Paris was at the Salon of 1824, when his large painting The Hay Wain (illustrated on p. 62) so impressed Eugene Delacroix that he reworked parts of his own Massacres at Chios (Musee du Louvre, Paris). As part of a major exhibition of Constable's work at the Grand Palais in Paris from October 10 until January 13, 2003, The Hay Wain will again be on display, along with view on the Stour near Dedham, which was exhibited with it in 1824.

The pictures for the show, which is entitled Constable--Le choix de Lucian Freud, have been selected by Lucian Freud with the assistance of one French and three British art historians. Yet the vision of the show is unmistakably Freud's. Constable was and is best known as a landscape painter. However, Freud makes a point of including many of his portraits as well. Constable's father was not enthusiastic about his son's plans and insisted he paint portraits because it would allow him to make a decent living. The artist's wife, Maria Bicknell, and other members of his family, as well as friends and local worthies, all became the subjects of these works.

For the exhibition Freud has chosen about two hundred oil paintings and sketches, watercolors, and drawings. Many are on loan from museums in North America, Britain, and many institutions on the Continent.

The exhibition has been organized by the British Council, the Musee du Louvre, and the Reunion des musees nation-aux. The accompanying catalogue (published in French only) by the Reunion, is edited by Anne Lyles and may be ordered by telephoning 33-3-44-58-44-07.