London Frieze Art Fair: Jenny Saville

JENNY SAVILLE
Rosetta 2, 2005-2006
Oil on watercolor paper, mounted on board
99-1/4 x 73-3/4 inches (252 x 187.5 cm)

This towering painting by Jenny Saville, a painting that I revisited many times while in London and stared at with amazement, was clearly one of the highlights at Frieze , a painting evoking pathos and sardonically questioning traditional expectations of portraiture, though I'm sure that the response to this painting will fall into 3 camps:

1. Hans Holbein purists who perhaps have serious disdain for the loose, violent and sobering approach here.
2. Admirers of Lucien Freud who feel that this painting stands for all the great things happening right now in contemporary art.
3. And the camp, myself included, that simply admires Holbein , Lucien Freud and Jenny Saville.