Sue Tilley (born 1957), also known as Big Sue, is a British artist's model and writer. She modelled for painter

Lucian Freud Lucian Michael Freud (; 8 December 1922 – 20 July 2011) was a British painter and draughtsman, specialising in figurative art, and is known as one of the foremost 20th-century English portraitists. He was born in Berlin, the son of Jewis ...

. Born in south

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, Tilley worked for performance artist and club promoter

Leigh Bowery Leigh Bowery (26 March 1961 – 31 December 1994) was an Australian performance artist, club promoter, and fashion designer. Bowery was known for his flamboyant and outlandish costumes and makeup as well as his (sometimes controversial) perform ...

as a cashier at his "Taboo"

night club A nightclub (music club, discothèque, disco club, or simply club) is an entertainment venue during nighttime comprising a dance floor, lightshow, and a stage for live music or a disc jockey (DJ) who plays recorded music. Nightclubs gener ...

. Bowery introduced her to Lucian Freud in 1990 and she began posing for him the following year. During this time, she was also a full-time benefits supervisor at the Charing Cross jobcentre, a state-operated

employment agency An employment agency is an organization which matches employers to employees. In developed countries, there are multiple private businesses which act as employment agencies and a publicly-funded employment agency. Public employment agencies One ...

, and she eventually became manager there. Freud painted several large nude portraits of Tilley, the first being ' (1993). ''

Benefits Supervisor Sleeping ''Benefits Supervisor Sleeping'' is a 1995 oil on canvas painting by Lucian Freud depicting a full figured, naked woman lying on a couch. It is a portrait of Sue Tilley, a Job Centre supervisor, then weighing about . Tilley is the author of a bi ...

'', painted in 1995, was sold at auction in 2008 for £17 million ($33.6 million US) in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. In 2015, the 1994 painting ''Benefits Supervisor Resting'' sold for £35 million ($56 million US). A fourth painting ''Sleeping by the Lion Carpet'' was painted in 1996. Freud also produced a number of etchings featuring Tilley, including ''Woman with an Arm Tattoo'' which Tilley sold in 2005. In 1997, she published ''Leigh Bowery: The life and times of an Icon'', a biography. From September 2000 to March 2001, Chief Curator

Rolf Lauter Rolf Dieter Lauter (born December 3, 1952, in Mannheim) is a German art historian, curator and art advisor. Early years Lauter already worked during high school at Johann-Sebastian-Bach Gymnasium (1963-1970) as Assistant Curator and from 1972– ...

Museum für Moderne Kunst The Museum für Moderne Kunst (''Museum of Modern Art''), or short MMK, in Frankfurt, was founded in 1981 and opened to the public 6 June 1991. The museum was designed by the Viennese architect Hans Hollein. Because of its triangular shape, it ...

Frankfurt could realise the only overview exhibition of Freud's works in a German museum in close cooperation with the artist. Both the catalog and the invitation as well as the poster included Freud's painting ''Sleeping by the Lion Carpet'' from 1995/96 with Sue Tilley. In 2015, she had a solo show of paintings and drawings in a London gallery. She did a collaboration with Fendi to decorate luxury clothes and bags with her pictures of desk lamps, bottle openers, banana skins, cups of coffee. In September 2021 Tilley was a guest on the BBC Radio 4 show '' Saturday Live''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tilley, Sue 1957 births Living people English biographers English artists' models English civil servants