The Uglow Papers
Andrew Lambirth
Format:
Hardback
Publication Date:
13 May 2025
ISBN:
978-1-7384878-2-0
Dimensions:
320 Pages, 270 x 210 mm
Illustrations:
170 colour and 10 b/w images
Price:
£30
Euan Uglow (1932–2000) was one of the finest painters of his generation. For a long time appreciated only by fellow artists and a relatively small band of devoted collectors, his work is now reaching a wider audience, and its innovative nature is finally being recognised and properly understood. He belongs with the best of twentieth-century British artists: with Michael Andrews, Frank Auerbach, Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud and Leon Kossoff. As a radical modern master, he is not out of place with Ben Nicholson and Bridget Riley.
The Uglow Papers is a celebration of Uglow’s art, life and teaching, recounted by those who knew him as friend, colleague or mentor. The book brings together anecdotes and opinions relating to the various decades of his life, from his years as a student in the late 1940s and early 1950s, to his development and maturity as an artist, and to his tragically early death. His life was a full one, devoted primarily to painting and drawing, but also to teaching (mainly at the Slade School of Art) and to spending time with an unexpectedly wide circle of friends.
This is the first major monograph on Uglow. Profusely illustrated, it contains much new material about the artist, his teaching and his friendships. Initiated and edited by Andrew Lambirth, who knew the artist well for the last decade of his life, and with contributions from Frank Auerbach, Sir Paul Smith and Cherie Blair among others, this book sheds new light on Euan Uglow’s life and work and will be an invaluable source of reference for all those interested in modern art.
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‘Andrew Lambirth . . . eschews a conventional monograph on the British painter Euan Uglow (1932–2000) by bringing together a selection of contributors and, through a series of memoirs or papers, allowing them to speak for themselves. It is an uncomplicated tactic in many respects, even allowing for authorial or editorial interventions. Yet the conversational nature of these contributions — made in person, by phone, email or letter — form a series of observations and recollections that, together, weave a rich and deeply personal celebration of the man, his work and his teaching . . . Lambirth’s use of a loose chronology to structure the book, his inclusion of the small details of each contributor’s relationship to the artist, as well as the times, locations and methods by which communications took place, means there is a secure framework to pull this disparate material together, while, in tandem, echoing the precision of Uglow’s approach to painting. In this way, the book’s architecture echoes its content, in a manner that leaves the reader feeling they are part of [the] F-Studio conviviality and closer to an understanding of Uglow as a committed artist and generous individual. It is a tremendously satisfying read.’ – Beth Williamson, The Art Newspaper, 2 September 2025
‘. . . fascinating from beginning to end, an indispensable read for artists and a primer on the art life for anyone else. And the paintings are killer.’ – Jerry Weiss, Linea, 11 August 2025
Andrew Lambirth (born 1959) is a writer and curator, also a poet and collagist. He was the art critic of The Spectator (2002–14), and his reviews have been collected in a paperback entitled A is a Critic. His numerous books include full-length monographs on Ken Kiff, Roger Hilton, R. B. Kitaj, Maggi Hambling, John Hoyland, Margaret Mellis, David Inshaw, Francis Davison, William Gear and John Nash. He has also curated exhibitions of work by Eileen Agar, Michael Ayrton, Peter Blake, Jean Cooke, Cedric Morris and Ivon Hitchens for various museums and public galleries in the UK. He lives in Wiltshire surrounded by books and pictures.
