One of the foremost figurative artists working today, Lucian Freud has redefined portraiture and the nude through his unblinking scrutiny of the human form. And while most are familiar with Freud’s thickly impasted paintings, few realize how integral etching has become to his practice.

Presenting an exceptional overview of Freud’s works on paper over his more than six-decade career, this oversized volume highlights the artist’s unconventional approach to the medium. Standing the copper etching plate upright on the easel, Freud treats the plate like a canvas as he depicts his sitters—very often friends, family members, or fellow artists—through meticulous networks of finely etched lines. Among Freud’s most notable trademarks is his tendency to dramatically crop figures and then isolate them against empty backgrounds, achieving through this juxtaposition a startling sense of psychological tension and formal abstraction.

Freud is one of the most widely acclaimed British artists of our time and, with plentiful illustrations and an introduction by celebrated curator Norman Rosenthal, Lucian Freud: Portraits brings Freud’s lesser-known etchings deservedly to the forefront.