Crucifixion is the work that first launched bacon into the public eye, long before the much greater successes of the postwar years. The most expensive francis bacon paintings at auctions. Kirklees council considers selling francis bacon painting. Francis bacon 28 october 1909 28 april 1992 was an irishborn british figurative painter known for his bold, grotesque. Francis bacon was born on january 22, 1561 in london, england. The medium used in this painting is thinlyapplied oil paint on a canvas background. Francis bacon 1909 1992 united kingdom is an artist born in 1909 the oldest auction result ever registered on the website for an artwork by this artist is a painting sold in 1984, at christies, and the most recent auction result is a printmultiple sold in 2020. Selftaught as an artist, he drifted in berlin and paris before settling in london in 1928, after which he worked as an interior decorator. Bacon reinterpreted the physical construction of the body with a new and unsettling intensity. Francis bacon 19091992, arguably the preeminent british painter of the twentieth century, was also for forty years the most controversial. Catalogue raisonne by martin harrison and rebecca daniels, which was published by the estate of francis bacon in 2016. Francis bacons painting is of a very special violence. Francis bacon was an irish artist and one of the most unique, engaging figurative painters to emerge during the postwar period. Bacon served as attorney general and lord chancellor of england, resigning amid charges of corruption.
British painter, born in ireland of english parents. The figure and the second world war, came into momas paintings conservation studio in early 2015, after we received a request for an xray. Gilles deleuzes book on francis bacon is something other. Observations are made of the artists technique and details are compiled of the supports used. The son of a racehorse trainer, bacon was educated mostly by private tutors at home until his parents banished him at age 16, allegedly for pursuing his homosexual leanings. Francis bacon, british painter, selftaught artist, 19091992 mariano akerman the grotesque in francis bacons instinctive paintings 1999 artistic grotesqueness a critic in a british newspaper, 1985. Nov 23, 2016 s portrait of pope innocent x 1650, a painting bacon became so infatuated with that he admitted to having a crush on it. A proof of paper or pdf must be sent to the press service of the centre. He apparently succeeded in doing so, not only when he first began to. April 28, 1992 madrid, spain english painter and artist. Apr 05, 2020 francis bacon, in full francis bacon, viscount saint alban, also called 160318 sir francis bacon, born january 22, 1561, york house, london, englanddied april 9, 1626, london, lord chancellor of england 161821.
Join gagosian at hatchards, londons oldest bookshop, to celebrate the publication of francis bacon. But these are overly facile detours, detours that the artist himself judges severely and condemns in his work. Raised with three siblings, francis bacon is a descendant of the sixteenthcentury statesman and essayist of the same name. Feb 04, 2017 francis bacon was the loudest, rudest, drunkest, most soughtafter british artist of the 20th century. Bacon concentrated his energies on portraiture, often. A comprehensive study of bacons materials and his painting technique has been carried out on over 60 paintings and slashed canvases as well as reference. The english artist francis bacon was one of the most powerful and original figure painters in the twentieth century. Francis bacon paintings for sale francis bacon art value. He left home in 1925 at the age of 16 and moved to london, where he worked for a time as an interior decorator. Borrowing inspiration from surrealism, film, photography, and the old masters, he forged a distinctive style that made him one of the most widely recognized exponents of figurative art in the 1940s and 1950s. Although securing loans is often a challenge because of the extraordinarily high value of bacons paintings, the art. Twentyfive years after his death, his canvases regularly exceed.
Time and time again, bacon would rework his own version of the masterpiece, although, interestingly, he refused to see the painting in person when he finally made a trip to rome. His works are credited with developing the scientific method and remained influential through the scientific revolution. He left home at the age of sixteen and spent two years in berlin, germany, and paris, france. Examining artworks attributed to francis bacon authentication in art. Francis bacon on violence, suffering and painting for. The layered images of this enigmatic painting blend into each other, giving it a dreamlike or nightmarish quality.
This exhibit offered a comprehensive look at francis bacons art. Dec 28, 2016 a prized painting by francis bacon could be sold at auction to help a cashstrapped west yorkshire council raise a potential. Oct 10, 2018 before the christies sale, the bacon painting is going on tour. Bacon, to be sure, often traffics in the violence of a depicted scene. I mean, the act of birth is a violent thing, and the act of death is.
Scroll down, and find out what are the most expensive francis bacon paintings at auctions. One of francis bacon s classic triptychs, three studies for figures at the base of a crucifixion examines, in detail, the secondary characters depicted at the foot of the cross in religious paintings. He is best known for his depictions of popes, crucifixions and portraits of close friends. Francis bacon 28 october 1909 28 april 1992 was an irishborn british figurative painter known for his bold, grotesque, emotionally charged, raw imagery. Francis bacon biography life, parents, name, death, book.
Bacon served as attorney general and lord chancellor of england, resigning amid charges of. Bacon, whose first us exhibition was described in time october 19, 1953 as a chamber of horrors filled with paintings that are snapshots from hell, told melvyn bragg on the south bank show that he wanted to give a shock not a shock that you could get from the story but a visual shock. A selftaught artist, bacon rejected abstraction in painting to explore a repertoire of strange, fractured, and often bizarre figurative images, many replete with homosexual, sadomasochistic, and fetishistic undertones. Before the christies sale, the bacon painting is going on tour. Gagosian curator richard calvocoressi and leading bacon scholar martin harrison, both contributors to the catalogue, will discuss the artists doublefigure paintings, which were recently on view at gagosian, grosvenor hill, london.
A note on the development of francis bacon s painting a question of attribution a school or not a school a soho soul made of wild brushstrokes a trail of human presence. This is a small book that is able to illustrate a large number of the works of francis bacon, contains multitudes of photographs of bacon and his social network as well as the photographic source materials used in his painting, has insightful essays on the nature of the work and other source materials, and does a good job of integrating biographical material into the essays and linking the. On some early paintings of francis bacon a brush with ebullient despair a critic saves his bacon a dark prophet a genius. Though perhaps, in francis bacons case, this is not so much a rethinking as a revisiting of the depths of human sensibility in a new sense of what it is to be in the body in the modern world. The painting was first exhibited in 1945the same year that photographs and films of nazi concentration camps were released. Francis bacon talks through one of his most iconic works and explains how he makes paintings. See available prints and multiples, paintings, and works on paper for sale and learn about the artist. As noted by the des moines art center where the painting is located, bacons representation of pope innocent x is a clear reference to the famous battleship potemkin scene, in which a woman silently screams after being shot through her glasses. Emerging from his unhappy childhood in ireland, his homosexuality, his experience of the. From the top, the outstretched wings of a bird skeleton seem to be perched upon a hanging carcass, the latter motif influenced, like bacons crucifixion from 1933, by rembrandt.
In the foreground, a welldressed man under an umbrella sits in a circular enclosure which. As we move, in chapter three, to a consideration of bacons early and deeply disturbing images of crucifixion, dating back to 1933, arya situates his work within the rich traditions of western christian art of the cross, linking bacon particularly with, among others, the painting of mattias grunewald and also with the near contemporary work. Interviews with francis bacon by david sylvester 18. This is the first we hear of any concern with the art of painting but bacon received. Secondary school guide to francis bacon hugh lane gallery. Francis bacon, enigmatic painter of howling popes, lived a life on the edge. In the late 1920s he lived in berlin and then paris where he was powerfully affected. The information in the present section on is based on the data in francis bacon. A lawyer, statesman, philosopher, and master of the english tongue, he is remembered in literary terms for the sharp worldly wisdom of a few dozen essays. Francis bacons painting 1946, which is currently on view in the exhibition solider, spectre, shaman. The information in the present section on francis bacon. Bacon said that he saw images in series, and his work, which. I would like my pictures to look as if a human being had passed between them, like a snail leaving its trail of the human presence. Francis bacon, painter, is dead at 82 francis bacon, louise bourgeois and franz xaver messerschmidt.
He produced series of images of popes, crucifixions and portraits of close friends, with abstracted figures sometimes isolated in geometrical cages, set against flat, nondescript backgrounds. Francis bacon may 30aug 28, 1990 art of the forties feb 24apr 30, 1991 1 other work identified selections from the permanent collection of painting and sculpture jul 1, 1993 1 other work identified. Cheim and read francis bacon, confounder of art critics. Ein gesprach mit dem maler francis bacon francis bacon tate britain 11 september 20084 january 2009 and two publications lost bacon painting expected to fetch. Bacon translates their apparent agony and devotion into three hybrid beasts akin to the eumenides, vengeful furies of greek myth, according to the tate. Dyer, nearly 15 years bacons junior, would become the virtuosic painters lover and muse. Francis bacon, 19091992 triptych portrait, 1970, offset colour lithographfolding marks, signed on the lower rightbr annotated and dated on the lower left. By that time, bacon was one of britains most respected artists, and he recalled the story of their first encounter as one of excitement. He was particularly noted for the obsessive intensity of his work.
The show included 64 oil paintings that emphasized the artists obsession with macabre subjects such as raw brutality, decomposing flesh, and shocking scene of torment. The figure and the second world war, came into momas paintings conservation studio in early 2015, after we received a request for an xray the expectation was that an xray might provide material evidence to support bacons recollections about the early stages of the paintings. Francis bacon 28 october 1909 28 april 1992 was an irishborn british figurative painter known for his emotionally charged raw imagery. Even bacons biographer, michael peppiatt, whose francis bacon. Francis bacon was a dominant figure of postwar art, and his canvases remain unmistakable for their contorted emotion and visceral physicality. You know, i think ive got the scream, but i am having terrible trouble with the smile. Francis bacon produced some of the most iconic images of wounded and traumatized humanity in postwar art. Bacon concentrated his energies on portraiture, often depicting habitues of the bars and clubs of londons soho neighborhood. The materials and techniques used in the paintings of francis. Anatomy of an enigma was recently republished to coincide with this show, tells us that deleuzes treatise put discussion of bacons painting on a new plane of pure, often playful and always inventive intellectual conjecture though he doesnt say that much more about. Find an indepth biography, exhibitions, original artworks for sale, the latest news, and sold auction prices. His works are credited with developing the scientific method and remained influential through the scientific revolution bacon has been called the father of. Master of ebullient despair francis bacon, the papal portraits of 1953 francis bacon henry moore.
One day he amused me by saying, in an apologetic tone. Seated figure is a powerful example from francis bacons most celebrated series of works. Created in the immediate aftermath of world war ii, painting is an oblique but damning image of an anonymous public figure. Pdf in this paper we discuss the work of francis bacon in the context of his declared aim of. Francis bacon masterpiece to star in christies auction. Jun 23, 2019 francis bacon was born on january 22, 1561 in london, england. Francis bacon was born in dublin, ireland, on october 28, 1909, to english parents. Francis bacon s painting is of a very special violence. The painting may have been inspired by rembrandts slaughtered ox c. Study of a bull, 1991, has never been publicly seen, reproduced, discussed or written about.
The umbrella that partially obscures him might refer to neville chamberlain, the prewar british prime minister who was known for carrying one. The materials and techniques used by francis bacon were studied through the examination of paintings and the scientific analysis of paint samples. Apr 24, 2020 the son of a racehorse trainer, bacon was educated mostly by private tutors at home until his parents banished him at age 16, allegedly for pursuing his homosexual leanings. The semiotic approach that is attempted in this paper concerns the phenomenon of reflectivity that is caused by the imposition of glass panes in front of the paintings of francis bacon 19091992 during their exhibition. Nov 19, 2015 francis bacons painting 1946, which is currently on view in the exhibition solider, spectre, shaman. Bacon reinterpreted the physical construction of the. Ben davis on gilles deleuzes book on francis bacon. The following notes for readers are extracted from the catalogue raisonne vol. Inaugurated by the socalled screaming popes of the 1950s, bacons renowned series of papal portraits were the works responsible for establishing the. Francis bacon article about francis bacon by the free.
The materials and techniques used in the paintings of. Francis bacon was the loudest, rudest, drunkest, most soughtafter british artist of the 20th century. Ben davis on gilles deleuzes book on francis bacon artnet. Francis bacon, in full francis bacon, viscount saint alban, also called 160318 sir francis bacon, born january 22, 1561, york house, london, englanddied april 9, 1626, london, lord chancellor of england 161821.