Francis Bacon (painter)

Francis Bacon (October 28, 1909 - April 28, 1992) was an Anglo-Irish painter, atheist, gambler and bon vivant. He was a collateral descendant of the Elizabethan philosopher Francis Bacon.

The Millais House studio, 7 Cromwell Place: 1943 - 1951

Returning from Hampshire at the latter part of 1943, Bacon and Hall were to take the ground floor of 7 Cromwell Place, South Kensington, in John Everett Millais' old house and studio. The old studio, high vaulted and north lit, had had its roof blown in by a bomb, so Bacon adopted the old billiard room for his studio. Nanny Lightfoot slept on the kitchen table as there was nowhere else. Illicit roulette parties were held there, organized by Bacon with the assistance of Eric Hall, and were a considerable financial success.

Related Topics:
Hampshire - John Everett Millais - Roulette

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Now home to the National Art Collections Fund, Millais house is just a short walk from the Victoria and Albert Museum holding the National collection of paintings by John Constable, whose oil sketches were admired by Bacon. It was also at the V&A that Bacon would first discover and study the photographs of Eadweard Muybridge.

Related Topics:
National Art Collections Fund - Victoria and Albert Museum - John Constable - Eadweard Muybridge

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The April 1945 show Recent Paintings by Francis Bacon, Francis Hodgkins, Matthew Smith, Henry Moore and Graham Sutherland at the Lefevre gallery (which was then on New Bond Street, London) had two paintings by Bacon - Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion (1944) and Figure in a landscape (1945).

Related Topics:
1945 - Matthew Smith - New Bond Street - Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion

Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion (1944) prefigures much of Bacon's later method, the triptych format presented behind glass in heavy gilt frames, the mouth open in a scream, the figure against a stark background, the use of painterly distortion, the Eumenides, or Furies, in the Oresteia of Aeschylus and the theme of the Crucifixion (Figures at the Foot of the Cross was the first attempt at the title). Bacon considered this to be the true start to his oeuvre - his masterpiece in the original sense.

Related Topics:
Triptych - Mouth - Distortion - Eumenides - Oresteia - Aeschylus - Crucifixion - Masterpiece

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion (1944) was presented to the Tate gallery by Eric Hall in 1953.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Untitled (1944) a variant of the right-hand panel of Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion (1944) was shown at Francis Bacon: The Human Body, curated by David Sylvester, at the Hayward Gallery in 1998.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A photograph of Eric Hall dozing on a seat in Hyde Park was the basis of the other painting in the Lefevre show, Figure in a landscape (1945) which was bought by Diana Watson and, in 1950, by the Tate gallery (with the support of Graham Sutherland, then a trustee).

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Figure Study (1945) was destroyed, Figure Study I and Figure Study II are from 1945 or 1946.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Study for Man with Microphones. 1946, was shown at the Lefevre gallery, (British Painters Past and Present July - August 1946), at the Anglo-French Art Centre, (Seventh Exhibition November - December 1946), and in Febuary to March 1948, at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, Contemporary Painters (last (monochrome) plate in the catalogue by James Thrall Soby). Re-worked, c.1948, and changed to Gorilla with Microphones.

Related Topics:
1946 - 1948 - Museum of Modern Art

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Painting (1946)

If Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion (1944) is Bacon's masterpiece, then Painting (1946), the 'butcher-shop picture', has a good claim to be his Magnum opus. Originally a painting of a bird alighting in a field, Bacon described it as his most unconscious work - the marks suddenly suggesting this image - at once magnificent and appalling.

Related Topics:
Masterpiece - Magnum opus - Unconscious

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Graham Sutherland saw Painting (1946) in the Cromwell Place studio, and urged Erica Brausen of the Hanover gallery, London, to go to see the painting and buy it, which, having written to Bacon, she did in early Autmn 1946. Painting (1946) was shown in several group shows including in the British section of Exposition internationale d'arte moderne (18 November - 28 December 1946) at the Musée National d'Art Moderne, for which Bacon travelled to Paris.

Related Topics:
Graham Sutherland - Musée National d'Art Moderne

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bought from Bacon in 1946 for £200, it eventually sold to Alfred Barr for the Museum of Modern Art, New York for £240 in 1948. Painting (1946) is now too fragile to be moved from MoMA for exhibition elsewhere.

Related Topics:
Alfred Barr - Museum of Modern Art - New York

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Within a fortnight, with the proceeds from the sale of Painting (1946) to the Hanover gallery, Bacon had decamped from London to Monte Carlo. After staying at a sucession of hotels and flats, including the Hôtel de Ré, Bacon settled in a large villa, La Frontalière, in the hills above the town. Eric Hall and Nanny Lightfoot would come to stay. Bacon spent much of the next few years in Monte Carlo, short visits to London apart. His letters to Erica Brausen show that he did paint there but no paintings are known to survive.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bacon returned to London and Cromwell Place to paint, late in 1948, at the behest of Erica Brausen, who had advanced him money, in preparation for what was, in effect, his first professional one-man show, at the Hanover gallery (Robert Ironside had some watercolours on an upper floor). Held from 8 November to 10 December 1949, Bacon's paintings attracted the support of Wyndham Lewis writing in The Spectator.

Related Topics:
1948 - 1949 - Wyndham Lewis - The Spectator

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Head I, Head II - Head VI

A series of six paintings Head I to Head VI, with Study from the Human Body (1949) and Study for Portrait (1949) formed the core of the show at the Hanover gallery with four other paintings by Bacon.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Head I differs from Head II - Head VI in one important respect: while the first is painted on hardboard and dates from 1948 (or 1947-8), the rest of the series are painted on the reverse of a (commercially) primed canvas, and date from 1949.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Head II is, for Bacon, thickly painted and he said that this was one of very few instances when he had been able to 'rescue' a painting after it had become overworked and the weave of the canvas clogged (as happened with two abandoned works on canvas from the Head series, from 1949, also in the 1949 Hanover show). The arrow, or pointer, motif in Head II is taken from the book Positioning in Radiography by Kathleen Clara Clark, 1939.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Head VI was Bacon's first surviving engagement with Velázquez's great Portrait of Pope Innocent X (three 'popes' were painted in Monte Carlo in 1946 but were destroyed). (The Cobalt Violet mozzetta, (Crimson in the Velázquez) may reflect Bacon's use of printed reproductions of the painting - although admiring "the magnificent colour" of the Velázquez, Bacon remarked on how Velázquez "wanted to make it as much like a Titian as possible but, in a curious way he cooled Titian".)

Related Topics:
Pope Innocent X - Mozzetta - Velázquez

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In 1950 Bacon met the art critic David Sylvester, then known for his writing on Henry Moore and praise for Alberto Giacometti's work. Sylvester had admired and written about his work (first writing about Bacon for a French periodical in 1948) but had erroneously perceived it to be a form of Expressionism. Head I, in particular, at the 1949 Hanover gallery show, was, for Sylvester, proof of Bacon's importance as a painter.

Related Topics:
Henry Moore - Alberto Giacometti - Expressionism

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Painting (1950) and Fragment of a Crucifixion (1950) were among the works shown at Francis Bacon: Recent Paintings; Hilly: Paintings, at the Hanover gallery, 14 September - 21 October 1950. Also Study for Figure (1950) (destroyed) and Man at a Curtain (1949) - an abandoned work.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Study after Velázquez

This series of three paintings after Velázquez were painted for the September 1950 Hanover gallery exhibition. The exhibition was advertised as Francis Bacon: Three Studies from the Painting of Innocent X by Velázquez but the series was withdrawn before the start of the show by Bacon. Study after Velázquez (1950) and Study after Velázquez II (1950) were sent to his art supplier for the frames and stretchers to be reused. Bacon apparently believed them destroyed.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Study after Velázquez (1950) and Study after Velázquez II (1950) were rediscovered carefully rolled-up at Bacon's art supplier in September 1998 (and shown at the Tony Shafrazi gallery). Study after Velázquez II (1950) (also known as Untitled (Pope) (1950)) is an abandoned work. Study after Velázquez III (1950) is destroyed (but photographed).

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

January 1951 Bacon was featured in World Review in The Iconoclasm of Francis Bacon by Robert Melville (describing Study after Velázquez (1950) seen at the studio and on the destruction of the three paintings in the series of studies after Velázquez; Fragment of a Crucifixion (1950) and Man at a Curtain (1949) are shown in monochrome).

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Painting (Head of a Man) (1950).

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Untitled (Marching Figures). (c.1950) (on a stylistic basis it may be later, 1952 or 1953).

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Study for Nude Figures (1950) (a.k.a. Untitled (Crouching Figure) (1950)), and Figure in Frame (1950) (a.k.a. Untitled (figure) (1950-1)), were among the abandoned paintings found in storage after the painter's death. Figure in Frame (1950), in particular, is a compellingly beautiful wreck. Thin dry-brushed paint on raw linen over a spectral smear and scrape of oil paint.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

By 1950 Bacon's affair with Eric Hall had come to an end - he no longer appears on the electoral register with Bacon and Jessie Lightfoot at 7 Cromwell Place - but he was to remain a loyal patron, friend and supporter.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

November 1950 Bacon visited his mother in South Africa. This suited his asthma better than spending Winter in London. Bacon was impressed by the African landscapes and wildlife, and took photographs in Kruger National Park. On his reurn journey he spent a few days in Cairo, and wrote to Erica Brausen of his intent to visit Karnak and Luxor, and then go via Alexandria to Marseilles. The visit confirmed his belief in the supremacy of Egyptian art, embodied by the Sphinx. He returned in the Spring of 1951.

Related Topics:
South Africa - Kruger National Park - Cairo - Karnak - Luxor - Alexandria - Marseilles - Sphinx

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

April 30 1951 Jessie Lightfoot, Bacon's old nurse died at Cromwell Place. Bacon was gambling in Nice when he learnt of her death. Nanny Lightfoot, 'Nan', Bacon's closest companion, had joined him in London, on his return from Paris and had lived with him and Eric Alden at Queensberry Mews West, and with him and Eric Hall at the cottage near Petersfield, in Monte Carlo and at Cromwell Place. Stricken Bacon sold the 7 Cromwell Place apartment.

Related Topics:
April 30 - 1951 - Nice

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~