FRANCIS BACON (1909-1992): PHOTOGRAPHS AND PAINTING, FROM LONDON TO DUBLIN
Review paper
https://doi.org/10.38003/zrffs.14.11
Eleonora Jedlińska, Uniwersytet Łódzki, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4322-5563
Abstract:
Francis Bacon painted pictures based mostly on photographs published in
encyclopaedias, popular magazines, the tabloid press, posters and packaging. He was
interested in reproductions of paintings by great masters. He used photographs by
Muybridge. Photographs, treated by Bacon as tools, were later “worked on” by the
artist, becoming the canvas for his paintings. The scenes he chose – often drastic,
depicting rape and violence – were painted into his canvases, creating a deformed
image of the world that “emerged” from the horrors of both world wars. He painted
portraits based on his photographs of friends. These were usually people with whom
the artist was emotionally connected. He painted self-portraits based on a series of
photographs taken in automatic photography, from which he selected several to
form the basis of his paintings. Real things and persons should exist in the fictional
space assigned to them. By destroying literalism in painting, Bacon wanted to find
the similarity desired in painting as its principal, so to rediscover realism. When
painting a portrait, he tried to capture the appearance of the figure. After Francis
Bacon’s death, his London studio (7, Reece Mews), restored by conservators, was
“repeated” in the space of the Hugh Lane Gallery in Dublin. It contains about 7,500
objects, among them numerous photographs which had been torn up by the artist,
photographs of his lovers and friends, black and white reproductions. The Bacon
‘archive’ collected in Dublin is now a silent hint of the creative process of the artist,
who despite numerous studies devoted to him and recorded conversations, still
remains one of the most inscrutable artists of the 20th century.
Key words:
Francis Bacon, painting, photograph, atelier, archive, portrait, deformation,
reality, London, Dublin
