About People

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About PeopleFrancis Bacon

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Enduring Understanding

Students will understand that artworks

do encapsulate the themes of identity and relationships in a variety of ways

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5W1H

FrancisBacon

When1909 - 1992

WhatDeath

Distortion ?

WhereUK

HowPainting

Distortion of Figures

WhyPhotography

Picasso

WhichFigurative

expressionism

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Essential Questions

Overarching QuestionsWhat is a portrait?

How can relationshipswithin a family or

community be shaped?How do artists form

identity and relationshipswith their art?

Topical QuestionsWhat is existence?

What is emptiness? What is space?

How does photographyEngage us with our world?

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Who1909: Born in 28 October in Dublin,

Ireland.1928-29: He started work as an interior

designer.1935: He visited Paris and saw for the

first of many times the movie Battleship Potemkin.

1992: He died at the age of 82 in Spain.

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When1914-18: World War I.1916: Sinn Féin Movement1925: The release of Sergei Eisenstein’s

Battleship Potemkin.1927: Picasso’s exhibition in at the

Gallerie Paul Rosenberg, Paris.1927: The release of Fritz Lang’s

Metropolis.1939-45: World War II.

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WhichFigurative Expressionism First influenced by the works of Picasso. Later by Surrealism. His style is expressionistic. He developed a distinctive style as a

figure painter. His signature- distorting his human form.

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WhatSubject Matter Human forms

His figures are usually distorted beyond recognition. Animal forms Crucifixion

This functions like an armature for him to suspend “all types of emotions and feelings” (Guggenheim). It has come to symbolize universal suffering and individual pain over the years.

MeatBacon saw connection between the “brutality of the slaughterhouses and crucifixion” (Guggenheim).

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WhatTheme The inescapable fact of death.

To quote him, “ I have a feeling of mortality all the time, because if life excites you, its opposite, like a shadow, death, must excite you.” (Schmied, 2006, p. 7)

Existential anxiety of modern man. Human condition and suffering.

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Crucifixion, 1933

Oil on canvas, 62 x 48.5 cm

Private Collection

His first original work.

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Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion, 1944

Oil and pastel on cardboard, 94 x 74 cm each

Tate Gallery, London

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Second Version of Triptych 1944 1988Oil and acrylic on canvas, 198 x 147.5 cm

each


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What

Three Studies for a Crucifixion, 1962 Oil and acrylic on canvas, 198 x 147.5 cm

each


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What- Three Studies for Figures…

The crucified figure on the right panel is slithering downwards resembling the Christ form from Cimabue’s Crucifixion.

His intention with the painting is to evoke emotionally and perceptually.

The figure is butchered open, like thecarcass of an animal.

This is similarly the fate of all humans that we know but do not confront.

The slabs of meat on the left panel reinforces this.

Crucifixion, c.1270s

By Giovanni Cimabue

Tempera on wood panel

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Painting, 1946

Oil and pastel on linen, 197.8 x 132.1 cm

MoMA, New York

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Head I, 1948

Oil and tempera on wood, 100.3 x 75 cm

collection Richard S. Zeisler, New York

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Head VI, 1949


Arts Council Collection, Hayward Gallery, London

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Portrait of Pope Innocent XPortrait of Pope Innocent X,

1650

by Diego Velázquez

Oil on canvas

Galleria Doria-Pamphili, Rome

Francis Bacon’s obsession with Velázquez’s painting generated a total of forty-five works on the Pope. Two recurring trademarks of his “Popes”- gaping mouth and elevation of the figure as if on a stage.

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WhyInfluence- Diego Velázquez (16xx - ) A Spanish painter in the court of King

Phillip IV. He belonged to the Baroque period. He painted many portraits of the Spanish

royal family. He also painted other notable European

figures and commoners. He also painted historical and cultural

scenes. His most famous work- Les Meninas,

1656-57 (see next slide).

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Les Meninas

Les Meninas, 1656-57

by Diego Velázquez

Oil on canvas, 318 x 276 cm

Museo del Prado, Madrid

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The “Scream”http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/40324000/jpg/_40324011_potempkin203.jpg

Study after Velázquez, 1950


Private Collection Study for the Head of a Screaming Pope , 1952


Yale University, New Haven

Battleship Potemkin has influence

many artists and film-makers.

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WhyHis Influence- Edvard Munch (1863 –

1944) A Norwegian Symbolist painter and

printmaker. A forerunner in Expressionistic art. His exploration revolves around the theme

of life, love, fear and death, as well as melancholy.

Symbolism- late 19th century art movement.Attempts to depict the symbols of ideas and emotions- often ambiguous and mysterious rather then precise and forthcoming.

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The Scream

The Scream, 1893

Oil tempera and pastel on cardboard, 48 x 44 cm

by Edvard Munch

National Gallery, Oslo, Norway

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Inspired by van Gogh…

Study for Portrait of Van Gogh VI, 1957

oil on canvas, 198.1 x 142.2 cm

London, Arts Council collection and Hayward

Gallery

Study for a Portrait of Van Gogh V, 1957

oil and sand on canvas, 198 x 142 cm

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.

Untitled (Landscape after Van Gogh), 1957

oil on canvas, 127 x 101.6 cm

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Vincent van Gogh (1853 – 1890 )

The Painter on His Way to Work, 1888

by Vincent van Gogh


Destroyed by fire in WWII.

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Study for Self Portrait

“ When I’m dead, put me in a plastic bag and throw me in the

gutter.”

(Schmied, 2006, p.8)

Study for Self Portrait, 1976Oil and pastel on canvas,198 x 147.5 cm

Art Gallery of New South Wales

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In Memory of Peter Lacy

Landscape near Malabata, 1963

oil on canvas, 198.1 x 144.8 cm

Private Collection

Peter Lacy was one of his lovers who committed suicide. He died the night before the opening day of his major exhibition at Tate Gallery. Malabata, Tangier is the final resting place of Lacy.

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In Memory of George Dryer

In Memory of Geroge Dryer, 1971

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The “March”?http://www.bluecrabboulevard.com/Images_2007/Sep_Oct/metropolis_drones.jpg

Untitled (Marching Figures), c. 1950

Oil on canvas, 198 x 137cm

The Estate of Francis Bacon

Still from Fritz Lang’s Metropolis

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Metropolis

A German Science-fiction silent movie by Fritz Lang.

It is set in an urban dystopia (the opposite of utopia).

It explores the social issues of capitalism.

The theme and cinematic style relates to German Expressionism.

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On Animals

Study of a Baboon, 195.

Oil on canvas, 198 x 137cm

MoMA, New York

Study for Chimpanzee, 1957

Oil and pastel on canvas, 152.4 x 117cm

Peggy Guggenheim Collection

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Man in Blue IV

Man in Blue IV, 1954


MUMOK, Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien

This is one of the seven paintings in a series, titled Man in Blue I – VII.

A treatment that is the most reductive.

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Lying Figure in the Mirror*

Lying Figure in Mirror, 1971 oil on canvas, 198 x 147.5 cm

Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao,

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Mirrors or Windows?

Study for a Nude with Figure in a Mirror, 1969 oil on canvas, 198 x 147.5 cm

private collection

Two Studies for a Portrait of George Dyer, 1968 oil on canvas, 197.5 x 147.6 cm

Art Museum Ateneum, collection Sara Hildén, Helsinki

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Landscape

Landscape, 1978

oil and pastel on canvas, 198 x 147.5 cm

Private Collection

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A Piece of Waste Land

A Piece of Waste Land, 1982

oil on canvas, 198 x 147.5 cm

Ivor Braka Ltd (London)

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WhyInside Influence- His Background His family shifted between England and Ireland

in his early life- affected him with a sense of displacement throughout his life.

His grandmother’s house near Abbeyleix- bow-ended rooms (see slides ).

He was a shy child whose effeminacy enraged his father- their relationship was thus estranged.

His father was also known to be argumentative and quarrelsome.

He suffered from chronic asthma since young. His sexual orientation- homosexual.

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WhyInside Influence- His Background He worked as an interior designer. He volunteered in Civil Defence during World

War II. His duties- fire-fighting, civilian rescue and recovery of the dead.

His trip to Africa where his mother and sisters emigrated to.

Bacon led a bohemian life- of alcohol, gambling and a string of intimate and anguished relationships, some were even self-destructive.

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Three Studies for a Portrait of John Edwards

Three Studies for a Portrait of John Edwards, 1984 oil on canvas, 198 x 147.5 cm (each)

private collection

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Spot the pattern…Study for Portrait of Lucian Freud (Sideways),

1971


Private Collection

Figure in Movement, 1976 oil on canvas, 198 x 147.5 cm

private collection

Self-Portrait, 1973 oil on canvas, 198 x 147.5 cm

private collection

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Interior Design

Studies of the Human Body –Triptych, 1970The Centre Piece

Study for Portrait, 1970

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WhyOutside Influences Nicolas Poussin’s Massacre of the Innocents- great

impact on him (see slides 45 & 48). He visited Picasso’s exhibition in 1927 at the Gallerie

Paul Rosenberg, Paris. The poems of T.S. Elliot and his play The Family

Reunion. The Oresteia- Greek trilogy written by Aeschylus,

especially W.B. Stanford’s translation. It is about the bloody chain of murder and revenge within a royal family. The underworld mythical agents known as Furies inspired Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion.

Photography is a salient influence Eadweard Muybridge (see slides 50 & 51).

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WhyOutside Influence- Nicolas Poussin (1594 – 1665) A classical artist of 17th century France. At 18, he left Normandy for Paris where he

developed a love for the works of classical antiquity.

He arrived in Rome, Italy in 1624 and lived the rest of his life there.

His subject matter- mythologies, landscapes and biblical scenes.

His works eventually formed the basis of Academic painting in France for the next two centuries.

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Massacre of the Innocents

Massacre of the Innocents, c. 1628-29

by Nicolas Poussin


Château de Chantilly (Musée Condé)

The screaming mother trying to protect her infant- “probably the best human cry ever painted.”

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More works on the incident…

The Holy Innocents, 1304-06

by Giotto di Bondone (c. 1267 - 1337)

Fresco, South Wall

Scrovegni (also Arena) Chapel, Padua Italy

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What An incident that appears in the Gospel

of Matthew (one of the scriptures of the New Testament).

It refers to the infanticide by Herod the Great (a Roman client king of Judaea).

Herod ordered the execution of all young male children in Bethlehem, to counter-defend his throne from the prophesized “new king of the Jews”.

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Photography Photography as a phenomenon. His studio was strewn with photographs- pinned on the

walls, on the floor, piled along with empty tubes of paint. Photography as a means to study the real world, closely

and then capture reality with greater intensity. As a result, it became an instrument for him to distort

reality rather than reproducing photo in detail with precise accuracy like the Pop artists, or embarking on a journey that focus on the “essence” of things like the abstract artists.

One captivating quality of photography for Bacon is its ability to capture and depict movement.

John Deakin’s portraits of other close friends like Lucian Freud and others.

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Influenced by Eadweard Muybridge

Dog,1952


Tate Gallery, LondonMan with Dog,1953

Oil on canvas, 152.4 x 116.8 cm

The Albright-Knox Gallery, New York Muybridge’s Animals in

Motion

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His Nudes

Untitled (Two Figures in the Grass, c. 1952


The Estate of Francis BaconTwo Figures, 1953


Private Collection

The human figure in motionby Muybridge.

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20th Century- An Age of Violence Technological progress. The horrors of human nature. Modern-day problems- television

sets, hypodermic syringes

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How He painted on unprimed side of the

canvas. He discovered that this held the paint with “more bite”, texture ended up enhanced and allowed the thinner to soak into the canvas.

He liked to present his works in diptychs or triptychs which are traditional forms of religious paintings for the purpose of disjoining the narrative.

He worked with easels despite the changing time.

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How He distorted his figures, influenced by the

biomorphs of Picasso’s works. The human flesh is depicted as nothing

but meat. His background depicts some interior

setting. He provided viewers in his works a

tremendous experience of space- the use of mirrors/windows, indeterminate space, shadows and ambiguity.

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Resources Schmied, W. (2006) Francis Bacon,

Commitment and Conflict. Prestel Verlaq: Munich.

http://www.francis-bacon.com/ http://www.leninimports.com/

francis_bacon_gallery.html http://www.queer-arts.org/bacon/

bacon.html http://en.wikipedia.org/ http://www.artchive.com/ http://www.artcyclopedia.com/

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About People