Plausible Portraits of James Lord

Over the course of his life as a friend and confidant of artists and collectors, and as a lover of art himself, James Lord has written some of the best accounts we have of modern aesthetic genius; his biography of Giacometti was widely acclaimed for succeeding, in the words of one reviewer, "in every way as one of the most readable, fascinating and informative documents, not just on the artist, but on art and artists in general" (The Washington Times). Through his connection with the twentieth century's great artist, it was natural that Lord should himself become the object of the artist's gaze. In fact, from the time he was a young man, Lord sat for many of the major and minor painters and photographers of his day, including Balthus, Cocteau, Cartier-Bresson, Freud, Giacometti, and Picasso—in all but one case at the artist's request. In Plausible Portraits Lord gathers his reflections alongside these images, penetrating the mind of artist and model alike in a sequence of illuminating double portraits of two artists at work.