David Dawson: Working with Lucian Freud gives portrait of the artist at Pallant House

Exhibition: David Dawson: Working with Lucian Freud, Pallant House Gallery, Chichester, January 28 – May 20 2012

Next month, the National Portrait Gallery hosts Lucian Freud Portraits, a major round of works which should see fans of portraiture and psychology jostling at the ticket office.

But before that, the man the show's curator, Sarah Howgate, credited with being known "better than anyone else" by Freud provides an introductory – and possibly even more intriguing – view of the man.

David Dawson spent 20 years as one of Freud's most consistent models, and features in his final (unfinished) portrait, sitting alongside his whippet in one of 100 paintings spanning 70 years.

"I was so excited," says Dawson, recalling his first meeting with Freud, in the artist's Holland park studio in 1989.

He'd been working for Freud’s dealer, James Kirkman, after graduating from the Painting school of the Royal College of Arts in 1989, and describes Freud as "quite small, slim, very light and quick on his feet with fantastically bright eyes".

His studio, he says, was "the most remarkable room I had ever stepped into", but Freud's "good manners and quick wit" dissolved any sense of intimidation.

Dawson went on to take a series of photos of his friend, many of which are strikingly intimate – one, of Freud painting the Queen, was chosen by Nick Clegg and Peter Mandelson for an exhibition of works from the Government Art Collection.

Some of Dawson's own rarely-seen paintings, capturing street scenes and cityscapes, accompany a display which, for once, truly turns the focus on Freud himself.

• Open 10am-5pm (8pm Thursday, 11am-5pm Sunday, closed Monday). Admission £2.30-£8.25 (half price all day Tuesday, free 5pm-8pm Thursday, free for unwaged, family ticket £17-£18.70).

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