‘Paint laid on with quite outrageous prodigality can be not only
seductive but most subtly and mysteriously alive.’ 1

Estella Olive West (1916 – 2014), or Stella as she was affectionately known, first met Frank Auerbach in 1948, when he was just 17 years old and she was 32. Their paths crossed at the Unity Theatre, where they performed together in a production of Peter Ustinov’s House of Regrets. It was not long before Auerbach moved into a basement room in E.O.W.’s house in Earls Court as a lodger and their relationship intensified. She was to become one of the most important figures in Auerbach’s life, romantically and artistically, for the next 25 years.
The second most painted subject after J.Y.M., E.O.W. sat for Auerbach for two hours, three times a week, from 1952 to 1973, resulting in a total of 11 drawings and 86 oils, including this electrifying composition, from Auerbach’s most celebrated period, which depicts her reclining in the nude.2 Auerbach’s images of E.O.W. are widely considered some of his greatest masterpieces, and it is no coincidence that a total of nine portraits of her were included in the artist’s 2015 retrospective exhibition at Tate Britain – more than of any other sitter. Auerbach’s central role in selecting the works that featured in the show serves to highlight both her significance as a model and the enduring importance of those pictures to the artist.
Characterised by a remarkably dense impasto, and holding incredible tactile appeal, the present work is sculptural in quality. Swathes of oil are not only encrusted on the surface but extend off the canvas edges. At the outermost corners, Auerbach’s painterly process of scraping back becomes evident, and we bear witness to the remnants of previous layers of different coloured pigment, inches below the surface.
The 1960s were a period of transition in Auerbach’s work. A recent contract with the Beaux Arts Gallery in London enabled him to buy expensive coloured pigments for the first time, resulting in a move away from his usual combination of ochres, black and white. Executed in sky blue, verdant green, white, blood red and yellow ochre, this painting’s palette is indicative of the time in which it was made. These bright hues lend the image a sense of energy and vigour, which is paralleled by the strong sense of line that Auerbach has employed to pin down the structure of E.O.W.’s figure.

1 David Sylvester cited in William Feaver, Frank Auerbach, Rizzoli, New York, 2009, p11
2 Juliet Yardley Mills (J.Y.M.) was the subject of 27 drawings and 189 paintings from 1956 – 1997