Naked Man Back View / The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
20世紀の偉大な肖像画家として、世界的な名声を博するきっかけになったのは画家が70才の時（1993年）にニューヨーク、メトロポリタン美術館で開催された個展。
ルシアン・フロイドは、それまで画商たちから「あの男はまったく売りようがない絵ばかり描いている」と陰口を叩かれていたそうです。一般的なコレクターが好む美しさや癒しの要素は微塵もない「おぞましい」作品を描いていると。
リー・バワリーは、少々アンダーグラウンドな舞台のダンサー。100キロを超える肉体の持ち主で頭髪と体毛を剃り上げている。「こんな絵に買い手がいるのだろうか？」「誰が正面を向いた巨大な男性のヌードなど買うのだろうか？」
売りにくい絵ばかり描いていたフロイドですが、リー・バワリーの連作は突き抜けていました。
実は、この異様な男性ヌードの連作がフロイドを国際的に有名にした記念碑的な作品なのです。
世界有数のメトロポリタン美術館はリー・バワリーの肖像の価値を認め、同美術館で画家の個展を大々的に開催することになったのです。
Leigh Bowery
The turning point that catapulted him to global fame as one of the 20th century's greatest portrait painters was a solo exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York when the painter was 70 years old, in 1993.
Lucian Freud, up until that point, was rumored to be disparaged by art dealers with comments like, "That man paints nothing but unsellable art." His works, devoid of the typical beauty or therapeutic qualities favored by general collectors, were labeled as "horrifying."
Leigh Bowery was a somewhat underground stage dancer. Weighing over 100 kilograms, he had shaved off his hair and body hair. People wondered, "Who would buy such a painting?" "Who would purchase a portrait of a massive nude man posed frontally?"
Although Freud was known for painting challenging subjects, his series on Leigh Bowery was particularly striking.
In fact, this uncanny series of male nudes became the monumental works that made Freud internationally renowned.
Recognizing the value of the portraits of Leigh Bowery, the world-renowned Metropolitan Museum of Art decided to host a grand solo exhibition of the artist's work.