Tower Blocks

Frank Auerbach’s Urban Abstraction: A Study in Texture and Tension

Few artists have captured the raw, unfiltered energy of post-war London with the same relentless intensity as Frank Auerbach. In Tower Blocks, the artist distills decades of urban observation into a composition where architecture becomes almost geological—layer upon layer of paint accumulating like sediment, each stroke a record of time and place. This work belongs to Auerbach’s signature approach: a near-obsessive reworking of the canvas until the subject emerges from the chaos, simultaneously solid and dissolving.

The painting’s thick impasto technique isn’t merely stylistic; it mirrors the weight of the city itself. As the Tate notes, Auerbach’s process often involved scraping down and repainting the same canvas over months, a physical struggle that parallels the urban renewal transforming London’s skyline during his career. Here, the tower blocks—those utilitarian monoliths of social housing—become monuments to both progress and alienation, their forms both imposing and strangely vulnerable beneath his relentless hand.

Auerbach and the School of London: Painting as Witness

By the 1950s, Frank Auerbach had become a central figure in what critics later dubbed the School of London—a loose collective including Francis Bacon, Leon Kossoff, and Lucian Freud, united by their unflinching focus on the human condition and the urban environment. Unlike his peers, however, Auerbach’s relationship with the city was less about its inhabitants than its structures. His tower blocks, bridges, and building sites became recurring motifs, not as static backdrops but as active participants in the drama of modern life.

What distinguishes Tower Blocks from Auerbach’s earlier works is its near-abstract compression of space. The artist’s post-war London was a city in flux, where Victorian terraces gave way to Brutalist estates overnight. This painting doesn’t document that change so much as embody it—the thick, ridged surfaces of the towers mirror the raw concrete of the new developments, while the swirling, almost turbulent background suggests the displacement they caused. As The Art Story observes, Auerbach’s work from this period often feels like a collision between the permanent and the provisional, a tension this print preserves with remarkable fidelity.

The genius of Tower Blocks lies in its refusal to romanticize or condemn. Auerbach paints these structures neither as utopian symbols nor dystopian warnings, but as facts—massive, ambiguous, and utterly present.

The Alchemy of Impasto: How Auerbach Built a City in Oil

Layering as Architecture

Auerbach’s method for Tower Blocks involved applying paint in thick, almost sculptural layers, then scraping it back with a palette knife—a process repeated daily until the composition resolved itself. The resulting surface isn’t just textured; it’s topographical. Under raking light, the ridges cast shadows that make the towers appear to project outward, as if the painting itself were a relief map of the city.

This physicality extends to his color palette. The dominant ochres, umbers, and muted blues weren’t mixed on a palette but built up in situ, allowing lower layers to peek through like graffiti on a brick wall. The effect is less about naturalism than about the accumulation of perception—each session’s work leaving its trace, much like the strata of a city’s history.

Negative Space as Absence

Equally striking is Auerbach’s treatment of the spaces between the towers. Unlike traditional cityscapes that fill the canvas with incident, here the background is a void—sometimes a murky green, sometimes a bruised purple—pushed to the edges by the sheer bulk of the buildings. This isn’t empty space but compressed space, as if the towers were crowding out the sky itself.

The composition’s asymmetry reinforces this tension. The largest tower leans precariously to the right, its weight unbalanced by the smaller structures beneath it. It’s a subtle but deliberate distortion, one that mirrors the instability many Londoners felt as their neighborhoods were demolished and rebuilt around them.

Where to Hang Tower Blocks: A Guide to Context

This print’s brooding palette and architectural subject matter make it surprisingly versatile, but its impact depends on placement. In a minimalist interior, the 30×40 cm size works best on a large expanse of wall—think above a low console table or centered in a dining area with neutral tones. The muted ochres and blues will harmonize with warm woods and linen textiles, while the texture of the print adds depth to flat surfaces.

For industrial or loft spaces, lean into the Brutalist dialogue: pair it with raw concrete, exposed brick, or black steel shelving. The print’s vertical orientation echoes the tower blocks themselves, so hang it at eye level (centered 145–150 cm from the floor) to emphasize that upward thrust. Avoid busy patterns nearby—this is a work that demands breathing room, its quiet intensity lost if competing with bold wallpapers or cluttered galleries.

More Works by Frank Auerbach

Explore Auerbach’s evolving relationship with London through these key prints, each capturing his signature blend of physicality and psychological depth.

Frank Auerbach

Primrose Hill

View print

Frank Auerbach

Study After Titian II

View print

Frank Auerbach

The Awning

View print

Frank Auerbach

Park Village

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