Don't Be a Gentleman

Like his late, great grandfather, Artist Lucian Freud is suspicious of reticence. Grandfather Sigmund thought it frequently concealed all manner of ugly things; grandson Lucian, like Joan Miro (see above), thinks it inhibits art.

Last week Lucian, a tousled, 24-year-old painter with dreamy eyes and frayed cuffs, exhibited a craftsmanlike beachscape that was the standout of a not-too-brilliant show of "New Generation" art in London. He took the occasion to blast at what was wrong with British painting. Said he: "In Britain everything is so foul and filthy that artists either go crazy, become surrealist or get into a rut. The clockwork morality of Britain that one feels on a bus, the inhumanity, the rigidity--it's a wonder that anyone paints at all." British art "is all just inspired sketching. That's what the people want. It's not considered gentlemanly to have ideas, so even the best only dabble."

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