Product Description
Self-Portrait
Author: Celia Paul
Format: Paperback
'Painfully honest on what it means to be a woman who puts art first, no matter what' — Olivia Laing
I'm not a portrait painter. If I'm anything, I have always been an autobiographer.
In Self-Portrait, Celia Paul reveals a life truly lived through art. She moves effortlessly through time, in words and images, from her arrival at the Slade School of Fine Art at sixteen, through a profound and intense affair with the older and better-known artist Lucian Freud, to the practices of her present-day studio. This intimate memoir is, at its heart, about a young woman navigating the path to artistic freedom, with all the sacrifices and complications that entails.
'Powerful' — Zadie Smith
'Engrossing' — Vogue
'Captivating... Mesmerising' — New York Times
**Shortlisted for the Slightly Foxed Best First Biography Prize **
About the Author
Celia Paul is recognised as one of the most important painters working in Britain today. She was born in India in 1959, before moving to England as a young child. Her major solo exhibitions include Celia Paul, curated by Hilton Als, at Yale Center for British Art (2018) and The Huntington (2019); Desdemona for Celia by Hilton, Gallery Met, New York (2015–16); and Gwen John and Celia Paul, Pallant House Gallery, Chichester (2012–13). Her work was included in the group exhibition All Too Human at Tate Britain (2018), and is in many collections, including the British Museum, National Portrait Gallery, Victoria and Albert Museum, Saatchi Collection and Metropolitan Museum, New York.
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