Fitzwilliam Museum Presents Frank Auerbach

The subjects are predominantly the artist's friends and family who sit regularly for him in his Camden Town studio, although there are also landscapes. Supplementary exhibits, including the loan of drawings, explore Auerbach's working methods and explain the printmaking process.

For those who only know Auerbach through his paintings, it is probably difficult to imagine how he might find an equivalent for the tactile paint surface of his pictures in the linear medium of etching. But Auerbach has a strong appreciation of the magic of printmaking and in their distinct way his etchings reveal the essential quality of his art. "The graphic mark which was made spontaneously, quickly, and then by some magic turns into a form of permanence that can be stamped down - no other medium has got that," Frank Auerbach said. "And to me it is a tremendous magic that something that could have been done in 20 minutes is preserved not as a sketch, but as something of more permanence and authority."

A complete catalogue, supported by Marlborough Fine Art, accompanies the exhibition. Since the catalogue went to press in February 2007 the artist has completed a further print: a portrait of William Feaver which has just been unveiled in the exhibition. It is conceived on the same large scale and created in the same way as the artist's two previous prints made in 2006.

Craig Hartley, Senior Assistant Keeper in charge of Prints at the Fitzwilliam Museum, curator of the exhibition and author of the accompanying catalogue said: "Frank Auerbach's most recent prints of Ruth, Jake and William Feaver are among the most powerful he has made. He has discovered a new, rich vein of picture-making possibilities within the apparently limited means of etching, resulting in exciting images that challenge the viewer. These latest etchings break new ground in their scale, presence and bold execution." -- www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk