Martin Gayford

Art critic and author

Martin Gayford is an art critic and the author of the acclaimed art book Man With a Blue Scarf. Lucian Freud, perhaps the worlds leading portrait painter, spent seven months painting a portrait of Martin Gayford, and the latter's book is illustrated throughout with photographs by David Dawson of Freud at work, with paintings by Freud from the 1940s to the present, and images by other artists discussed by Freud with Gayford. The result vividly conveys what it is like to be on the inside of the process of creating a painting by a great artist.

Gayford studied philosophy at Cambridge and art history at the Courtauld Institute. He is the art critic of the Spectator, and contributes regularly to the Daily Telegraph, Modern Painters and Harpers & Queen. His other books include The Yellow House: Van Gogh, Gauguin, and Nine Turbulent Weeks in Arles.