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thumb|200px|Study after Velázquez's Portrait of Pope Innocent, 1953

Francis Bacon (28 October 1909 – 28 April 1992) was an Irish born British figurative painter. Bacon's artwork is known for its bold, austere, homoerotic and often violent or nightmarish imagery, which typically shows room-bound masculine figures isolated in glass or steel geometrical cages set against flat, nondescript backgrounds. A late starter, Bacon did not begin painting until he was in his late 20s. He painted sporadically and without commitment during the late 1920s and early 1930s, when he worked as an interior decorator and designer of furniture and rugs. He later admitted that his career was delayed because he had spent so long looking for a subject that would sustain his interest.[1]

His breakthrough came with the 1944 triptych Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion, and it was this work as well as his heads and figures of the late 1940 through to the early 1960s that sealed his reputation as a chronicler of the grotesque. From the mid 1960's, Bacon mainly produced portrait heads of friends. He often said in interviews that he saw images "in series", and his artistic output often saw him focus on single themes for sustained periods (including his crucifixion, Papal heads, and later single and triptych heads series). Bacon began painting variations on the Crucifixion, and later focused on half human-half grotesque heads, best exemplified by the 1949 "Heads in a Room" series. Following the 1971 suicide of his lover George Dyer, his art became more personal, inward looking and preoccupied with death. The climax of this period came with his 1982 "Study for Self-Portrait", and his masterpiece, "Study for a Self Portrait -Triptych, 1985-86".

Bacon was noted for his larger than life, but often severe, personality, and he spent much of his middle and later life eating, drinking and gambling in London's Soho with such people as Lucian Freud, John Deakin, Daniel Farson, Jeffrey Bernard, Muriel Belcher and Henrietta Moraes. Following Dyer's suicide he moved away from this circle and became less involved with rough trade to settle with his eventual heir John Edwards. Since his death, Bacon's reputation has steadily grown. He still draws admiration and disgust in equal measures; Margaret Thatcher famously described him as "that man who paints those dreadful pictures".[2] Bacon was the subject of two major Tate retrospectives during his life time and received a third in 2008. He always professed not to depend on preparatory works and was resolute that he never drew. Yet since his death, a number of sketches have emerged and although the Tate recognised them as canon, they have not yet been acknowledged as such by the art market. In addition, in the late 1990's, several presumedly destroyed major works, including Popes from the early 1950s and Heads from the 1960s, have surfaced on the art market which are considered equal to any of his "official" output.


Notes

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  1. ^ Schmied (1996), 121
  2. ^ "Francis Bacon". New York Times, April 1992 . Retrieved on February 28, 2009.

Further reading

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  • Archimbaud, Michel (1994) Francis Bacon: The Final Vision New York: Phaidon Press ISBN 0714829838
  • Bacon, Francis (1998) Francis Bacon: Important Paintings from the Estate Tony Shafrazi gallery ISBN 1891475169
  • Baldassari, Anne (2005) Bacon-Picasso: The Life of Images London: Flammarion ISBN 2080304860
  • Brighton, Andrew (2001) Francis Bacon London: Tate Publishing Ltd ISBN 1-85437-307-2
  • Cappock, Margarita (2005) Francis Bacon's Studio London: Merrell Publishers Ltd ISBN 1858942764
  • Deleuze, Gilles (2004) Francis Bacon: The Logic of Sensation Continuum International Publishing Group - Mansell ISBN 0826473180
  • Domino, Christophe (1997) Francis Bacon London: Thames and Hudson Ltd ISBN 0500300763
  • Edwards, John (2001) 7 Reece Mews: Francis Bacon's Studio London: Thames & Hudson Ltd ISBN 0500510342
  • Farson, Daniel (1994) The Gilded Gutter Life of Francis Bacon London: Vintage ISBN 009-9307812
  • Gale, Matthew; Sylvester David (1999) Francis Bacon: Working on Paper London: Tate Publishing Ltd ISBN 1-85437-280-7
  • Hammer, Martin (2005) Bacon and Sutherland Boston: Yale University Press ISBN 0-300-10796-X
  • Hammer, Martin (2005) Francis Bacon: Portraits and Heads Edinburgh: National Galleries of Scotland ISBN 190327866X
  • Harrison, Martin (2005) In Camera, Francis Bacon: Photography, Film and the Practice of Painting Thames & Hudson ISBN 0500238200
  • Kundera, Milan; Borel, France (1996) Bacon: Portraits and Self-portraits London: Thames & Hudson Ltd ISBN 0500092664
  • Peppiatt, Michael (1996) Francis Bacon: Anatomy of an Enigma London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson ISBN 0297816160
  • Peppiatt, Michael (2006) Francis Bacon in the 1950s London: Yale University Press ISBN 030012192X
  • Rothenstein, John (introduction); Alley, Ronald (Catalogue raisonnè and documentation) (1964) Francis Bacon Thames and Hudson Ltd
  • Russell, John (1993) Francis Bacon London: Thames and Hudson Ltd ISBN 0500202710
  • Schmied, Wieland (2006) Francis Bacon: Commitment and Conflict London: Prestel Verlag ISBN 3-7913-3472-7
  • Sinclair, Andrew Francis (1994) Bacon: His Life and Violent Times. London, Sinclair Stevenson, 1993; New York, Crown
  • Steffen, Barbara; Bryson, Norman (2004) Francis Bacon and the Tradition of Art Zurich: Skira Editore ISBN 88-8491-721-2
  • Sylvester, David (1975, 1980, 1987) Interviews with Francis Bacon (revised edition 1993) London: Thames & Hudson ISBN 0-500-27475-4
  • Sylvester, David (2000) Looking Back at Francis Bacon London: Thames & Hudson Ltd ISBN 0-500-01994-0
  • Sylvester, David (1998) Francis Bacon: The Human Body London: Hayward Gallery ISBN 1-85332-175-3
  • Sylvester, David (1996, 1997, 2002) About Modern Art: Critical Essays 1948-2000 revised edition, London: Pimlico ISBN 0-7126-0563-0
  • Todoli, Vincente (2003) Francis Bacon: Caged. Uncaged. Lisbon: Fundacao De Serralves ISBN 972-739-109-5
  • Van Alphen, Ernst (1992) Francis Bacon and the Loss of Self London: Reaktion Books ISBN 0-948462-34-5
  • Zweite, Armin (2006) Francis Bacon: The Violence of the Real London: Thames and Hudson Ltd ISBN 0-500-09335-0
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