About Frank Auerbach
Frank Helmut Auerbach (29 April 1931 – 11 November 2024) was a German-born British painter. Born in Germany to Jewish parents, he became a naturalised British subject in 1947. He is considered one of the leading names in the School of London, with fellow artists Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud, both of whom were early supporters of his work. == Early life and education == Auerbach was born on 29 April 1931 in Berlin, Germany, the son of Max Auerbach, a patent lawyer, and Charlotte Nora Borchardt, who had trained as an artist. With rising Nazi persecution of Jews such as themselves, his parents sent him to Britain in 1939, one of six such children sponsored by British writer Iris Origo. His parents stayed behind in Germany, and were murdered in the Auschwitz concentration camp in 1942. In Britain, Auerbach became a pupil at Bunce Court School, near Faversham in Kent, where he excelled in not only art but also drama classes. Indeed, he almost became an actor, even taking a small role in Peter Ustinov's play House of Regrets at the Unity Theatre in St. Pancras, at the age of 17. But his interest in art proved a stronger draw and he began studying in London, first at St Martin's School of Art from 1948 to 1952, and at the Royal College of Art from 1952 to 1955.
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