Barnaby Wright

This catalogue accompanies the first UK show of Wayne Thiebaud’s quintessentially postwar American paintings Wayne Thiebaud (1920–2021) is considered to be one of the greatest and most original American artists of the 20th century. This publication accompanies the first-ever museum show of his work in the United Kingdom, which will held at the Courtauld Gallery. The exhibition will accompany this richly illustrated and scholarly catalogue that will showcase research findings on Thiebaud’s early still lifes. It will also be underpinned by research into the archive of objects and papers held by the Thiebaud Foundation, which, although well organized, has yet to be fully explored. Wayne Thiebaud: American Still Life will showcase the ways in which Thiebaud recast the genre of still life for the modern age and created powerful images of American consumer culture in the years of postwar expansion and optimism. It will chart the moment when Thiebaud found his artistic voice, creating a highly original way of painting and drawing in order to express his vision of modern American consumer culture, which he considered to be a vital subject for contemporary painting. Thiebaud saw his work as continuing the radical legacy of earlier still-life paintings by Chardin, Manet, Cézanne and others. He believed in the importance of commonplace objects that might otherwise be overlooked or considered kitsch. His work turns hot dogs, lemon meringue pies and glossy cream cakes into the stuff of profound modern painting. The exhibition and catalogue will feature rarely lent works from private collections and major museum collections in the USA, including the National Gallery of Art, Washington, and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, as well as the Wayne Thiebaud Foundation. Published by Paul Holberton Publishing Exhibition Schedule: The Courtauld Gallery, London (10 October 2025–18 January 2026)

Accompanying an exhibition at the Courtauld Gallery, London, Frank Auerbach: The Charcoal Heads presents a remarkable series of hauntingly beautiful largescale drawings by the artist. The catalogue includes a new piece of writing on one of the drawings from critically acclaimed novelist Colm Tóibín. This catalogue explores one of Frank Auerbach’s most remarkable bodies of work – a series of large-scale portrait heads made in charcoal, produced during his early years as a young artist in postwar London. Auerbach (b. 1931) spent months on each drawing, working and reworking them during numerous sessions with his sitters. This prolonged and vigorous process of creation is evident in the finished drawings, which are richly textured and layered. Auerbach would sometimes even break through the paper and patch it up before carrying on. His heads thus emerge from the darkness of the charcoal with burning vitality, born of an artistic as well as a physical struggle with the medium. The process of repeated creation and destruction, of which these images bear the visible scars, speaks profoundly of their times, as people rebuilt their lives after the ruination and upending of the war. The exhibition will be the first time Auerbach’s extraordinary drawings, made in the 1950s and early 1960s, have been brought together as a comprehensive group. They will be shown together with a selection of paintings he made of the same sitters; for the artist, painting and drawing have always been deeply entwined. The accompanying catalogue – by Deputy Head of The Courtauld Gallery, Barnaby Wright, and with an essay by one of the greatest contemporary voices in the English language, Colm Tóibín – is the first publication to explore in depth this magnificent series. Tóibín spent several hours one afternoon in front of Auerbach’s Self-Portrait (1958), which features on the front cover of the book, looking closely and taking notes. His essay is an account of his experience and offers new insights into the work and the nature of self-portaiture.

The Courtauld is one of the United Kingdom’s great art collections, displayed throughout the magnificent historic setting of Somerset House in central London. This elegant book is a curated selection of its highlights — paintings, drawings, prints, sculpture and decorative arts — each beautifully illustrated and accompanied by an insightful commentary. Notable among these treasures are remarkable Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings, including the world-famous A Bar at the Folies-Bergère by Édouard Manet and Vincent van Gogh’s Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear. This book is also an engaging account of how The Courtauld became an internationally renowned centre for the teaching and research of art history, conservation and curating. It was founded nearly a century ago in the belief that art has the power to enrich people’s lives. The Courtauld continues that mission today, promoting the understanding of the visual arts and offering a place where everyone can find enjoyment and inspiration.

Accompanying an exhibition that will be the first to investigate the depiction ?of rural figures by one of the most admired British watercolorists of the 19th century, William Henry Hunt. Taking its lead from W. H. Hunt’s watercolor The Head Gardener, c. 1825, that is part of The Courtauld Gallery’s permanent collection, this focused display will be first to investigate Hunt’s depiction of rural figures in his work of the 1820s and 1830s. Consisting of twenty drawings borrowed from collections across the United Kingdom, William Henry Hunt: Country People will bring together watercolors depicting country people in their working or living environments, from farmer and gamekeeper to stonebreaker and gleaner. The representation of these country men, women and children, closely observed, raises questions about their status and way of life at a time of rapid agricultural and social change. These profound changes are also reflected in the literature of the period. William Henry Hunt was one of the most admired watercolorists of the 19th century. Better known as ‘Bird’s Nest Hunt’ for his intricate still lives of flowers, fruit and birds’ eggs, he exhibited prolifically at the Old Water Colour Society. His works were sought after by collectors, notably John Ruskin, a serious champion of his work.’