Francis Bacon: Five Decades
Category: Books,Arts & Photography,Individual Artists
Francis Bacon: Five Decades Details
Review “Disturbing, compelling, important, this book examines the work of [Bacon] decade-by-decade, providing insights into the strange world of his personal life and his dark and unique artistic vision.” ―Art of the Times Read more From the Inside Flap This decade-by-decade exploration of Francis Bacon's paintings draws insightful parallels between the artist's personal life and the thematic evolution of his oeuvre. Thought-provoking essays provide further insight into Bacon's world both within and without the studio. The volume includes a wide range of photographs and archival material to round out this penetrating study of one of the most visceral-and influential-artists of his generation. Read more
Reviews
Those of us who adore Bacon's work and have a large collection of books on the subject will always be looking for another. Here and there, a painting will pop up you have not seen before, a close-up of a great work, or simply a well produced volume with early works or missing ones. (There is a book priced at $450 in a NY book store with 7 photos of paintings that Bacon destroyed, but I have not bought that one yet.)This new entry from the recent exhibition from Sydney is a chronologically designed display of a great number of works with an engaging background of information that does not drown the reader in a lot of artspeak. Bacon is an artist who invokes volumes of interpretation, the most famous individual line of which is Margaret Thatcher's "The man who paints those dreadful paintings."Verbiage is kept at a minimum and the paintings speak for themselves. This volume makes the unfortunate mistake of spreading several tryptichs over two pages, the center of each center panel being stuck in the binding. Not a good layout choice. However, the use of several close-ups is very smart and educational. Supplementing the paintings are some great photos of Bacon, his friends, his influences and various shots of the famous studio.A very very good book, which should have been two inches larger all around and should not have put paintings in the center of the book fold. Highly recommended.
