Wk 17 - The Joy of Small Words
Inspired by my Bic drawing of the rats last week and some reading I’d done on Sigmund Freud’s case of Obsessional Neurosis - AKA the Rat Man Case (2001) - Something made infinitely funnier by Lucian’s disassociation with the works of his Grandfather. This is one of the paintings I shortlisted for my Philosophy Image Analysis on Nudity in Art. It’s encapsulated me for years and so decided now was the time to get my grubby fingers all over it as I write about it for our creative writing Task -
Naked Man with Rat (1977) Lucian Freud
This particular painting is the debut of Raymond Jones as a sitter for Freud, who only ever had a handful of male models throughout his career, he has been posed, supine bound angle, displaying his jewels with pride (or perhaps despair) as he holds a black rat across his body by his hip. I don’t believe Freud was consciously attempting to portray a narrative through this scene but underneath this painting tells us so much about Freud and the way he views the people around him.
In one interpretation the Rat becomes the phallus and the phallus becomes the rat. Much like how the Rodent is seen as a harbinger of disease and decay, the man harbors a rodent of his own kind which burrows where it is not wanted and spreads like parasitic agents which infect and inseminate their own will unto the unsuspecting host. An absent father who abuses the power dynamics of the women in his life, Lucian Freud depicts himself through Jones, with one hand gripped tightly around the suspected intruder, a red herring, for the real threat is his own manhood which he has proven to have little control over.
The other interpretation the Rat becomes the Phallus, the phallus becomes the Rat. The rodent, harbinger of disease and decay falsely mimics the man (sexuality unknown) but is feared as the outbreak of the AIDS crisis breaks out in the US and in just a few short years would reach the UK itself. Freud, although himself a manipulative womaniser in his later years, had a complex journey with his own sexuality in his youth and spent the majority of his career in close circles with Francis Bacon and Leigh Bowery who were openly out at the time. This painting, an ode to these relationships, fights the grotesque connotations associated to both rodent and rod and shows us that, despite being far from a good-willed man, Freud invites us to consider the rat a creature with gentle eyes befriended yet completely distinct from the man who holds him.
The Rat may become the Phallus, The Phallus may become the Rat. At the end of the day; they just want a rub.
Sara OussaidenReferences
AGWA (2023) Naked Man with Rat available at: https://collection.artgallery.wa.gov.au/objects/141/naked-man-with-rat (accessed:24 April 2023)
Belfast Telegraph (2023) Lucian: A portrait of the artist as a lifelong womaniser. 14 June 2014. Available at: https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/life/features/lucian-a-portrait-of-the-artist-as-a-lifelong-womaniser/30353010.html (Accessed: 24 April 2023)
Brown, M. (2023) ‘Lucian Freud’s gay relationships explored in new exhibition’ The Guardian. 9 July 2021. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2021/jul/09/lucian-freuds-gay-relationships-explored-in-new-exhibition (Accessed: 24 April 2023)
Cawdron-Stewart, R. (2023) ‘The Man Behind Freud’s Naked Man With Rat’ Sotheby’s. 22 September 2016. Available at: https://www.sothebys.com/en/articles/the-man-behind-freuds-naked-man-with-rat (Accessed: 24 April 2023)
Freud, L. (1977) Naked Man with Rat [Oil on Canvas] Available at: https://collection.artgallery.wa.gov.au/objects/141/naked-man-with-rat (Accessed: 24 April 2023)
Freud, L. (2022) Lucian Freud: New Perspectives [Exhibition]. The National Gallery: Rooms 1–8. 1 October 2022 – 22 January 2023. Available at: https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/exhibitions/past/the-credit-suisse-exhibition-lucian-freud-new-perspectives (Accessed: 24 April 2023).
Freud, S. (2001) Two case histories: 'Little Hans' and the 'Rat Man'. Edited by J. Strachey, A. Tyson and A. Strachey. Manhattan : Random House. Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works, Vol. 10
Sotheby’s (2023) Expert Voices: James Sevier on Lucian Freud's Ib Reading. 21 February 2023. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUqwyYgCWR4 (Accessed: 24 July 2023)
The National Gallery (2022) How did Lucian Freud present queer and marginalised bodies? | National Gallery. 4 November 2022. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdFRNX6B2x4 (Accessed: 24 April 2023)