In 1965 at the height of a successful career as an abstract painter, Avigdor Arikha suddenly stopped painting to return to drawing from life. When he returned to painting in 1973 it was to begin a series of intensely observed portraits, nudes and still lifes for which he is now known worldwide. This book, partly based on discussions with the artist over a long period, surveys Arikha's entire career and shows his work from the drawings he made as a child in a Nazi concentration camp to the carefully observed and composed paintings of the 1990s. This book is the winner of the 1995 Scottish Arts Council Spring Book Award.