Francis Bacon in the 1950s

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Title:

Francis Bacon in the 1950s

Author:

Peppiatt, Michael.

ISBN:

9780300121926

Personal Author:

Peppiatt, Michael.

Publication Date:

2006

Publication Information:

New Haven, Conn. ; London : Yale University Press, c2006.

Physical Description:

xi, 200 p. : ill. (chiefly col.), ports. ; 28 cm.

General Note:

Published to accompany the exhibition Francis Bacon, Paintings from the 1950s held at the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, University of East Anglia, Norwich, 26 Sept.-10 Dec. 2006, Mikwaukee Art Museum, Wisconsin, 29 Jan.-15 Apr. 2007, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 5 May-30 July 2007.

Includes index.

Published in association with the Sainsbury Centre.

Abstract:

Bringing both Bacon the man and Bacon the painter to life, this book offers a study that reveals essential keys to understanding Bacon's mysterious and subversive art. Also included is an account of the artist's life in the 1950s, and a series of revealing conversations between the author and Bacon in 1964, 1987 and 1989.

Personal Subject:

Bacon, Francis, 1909-1992-Criticism and interpretation.

Subject Term:

Biography.

Added Author:

Bacon, Francis, 1909-1992.

Added Corporate Author:

Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts.

Copies:

Available:*

Library

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Shelf Number

920 BACO

Material Type

Book

Item Barcode

30116014478034

Status

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Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

From the screaming heads and snarling chimpanzees of the late 1940s to the anonymous figures trapped in tortured isolation some ten years later, during one crucial decade British artist Francis Bacon created many of the most central and memorable images of his entire career. The artist enters the decade of the 1950s in search of himself and his true subject; he finishes ten years later having completed some of his great masterpieces and having acquired technical mastery over one of the most disturbing and revealing visions of the 20th century.
This book brings both Bacon the man and Bacon the painter vividly to life, focusing for the first time on this key period in his development. Michael Peppiatt, the leading authority on Bacon and a close friend of the artist for thirty years, reveals essential keys to understanding Bacon's mysterious and subversive art. The book presents and assesses a wide range of paintings (many of them rarely seen before) representing all of Bacon's major themes during the 1950s. Also included is an account of the artist's life in the 1950s.

Author Notes

Formerly editor and publisher of Art International , Michael Peppiatt is an independent art historian and exhibition curator living between London and Paris. His previous books include Alberto Giacometti in Postwar Paris , published by Yale University Press. His 1996 biography of Francis Bacon, Francis Bacon: Anatomy of an Enigma , is considered the definitive account of Bacon's life and work and was chosen as a New York Times Book of the Year.

Reviews (1)

Library Journal Review

Francis Bacon's brooding, contorted, high-color portraits from the 1950s form the centerpiece of this catalog to an exhibition traveling to Milwaukee and Buffalo through July 2007. Peppiatt (Francis Bacon: Anatomy of an Enigma), an eminent curator who associated with the artist for 30 years, sheds light on Bacon's work, the pivotal decade of which is represented by 54 paintings. The first third of the catalog documents Bacon's life, his influences, his major themes, and the development of his paintings. It reprints Bacon's letters to the Hanover Gallery in London and to his major patrons, Robert and Lisa Sainsbury, and also includes a chronology supplemented by photos and an extensive bibliography even listing interviews and films. Full-page reproductions on heavy paper vividly capture these enigmatic works. Interest in Bacon remains high since his death in 1992, which makes this a priority purchase for academic and museum libraries, along with two works that appeared in 2005: Bacon and Sutherland: Patterns of Affinity in British Culture of the 1940s (Yale Univ.) and the catalog Francis Bacon: Portraits and Heads (National Galleries of Scotland).-Russell T. Clement, Northwestern Univ. Lib., Evanston, IL (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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