Monthly Archives: July 2011

Artist Lucian Freud, grandson of Sigmund (with Brendan Behan outside The Shelbourne Hotel Mansion House in Dublin in 1952) has died aged 88.

He liked a flutter:

He was a heavy gambler until late on when, he found that he had become so rich there was no thrill left in it any more.

One day, when he was well into his 70s, he lost nearly a million pounds on a series of horse races while we were having lunch.

Lucian Freud: He Was Wise In His Way (Martin Gayford, Telegraph)

(Bill Brandt)

 


Today’s Google Doodle recipient. He left us hanging.

Alexander Calder (1898-1976), whose illustrious career spanned much of the 20th century, is the most acclaimed and influential sculptor of our time. Born in a family of celebrated, though more classically trained artists, Calder utilized his innovative genius to profoundly change the course of modern art. He began by developing a new method of sculpting: by bending and twisting wire, he essentially “drew” three-dimensional figures in space.

The Calder Foundation