Francis Bacon the Violence of the Real
Category: Books,Arts & Photography,History & Criticism
Francis Bacon the Violence of the Real Details
Francis Bacon (1909–1992) was renowned for his dramatic depictions of the human form; he portrayed the ordeal of the vulnerable, defencelessly exposed body like no other artist of his generation. At the centre of this volume are about sixty of Bacon’s disturbing yet captivating studies of the human figure, encompassing works from the late 1940s until his death. Texts by a range of experts on the artist offer new insights into these radical and often discomfiting images, so brilliantly reproduced on the pages of this book.Table of ContentsForeword Introduction by Armin Zweite The Portrait as a Problem for Modernist Art by Peter Bürger Francis Bacon: Extreme Points of Realism by Martin Harrison Working Documents from Francis Bacon’s Studio Bacon’s Scream by Armin Zweite Paintings 1945–1991 with commentaries by Frank Laukötter and Maria Müller Image – Affect: Bacon, Stein and Eisenstein by Daria Kolacka Accident, Instinct and Inspiration, Affect and the Unconscious by Armin Zweite Read more
Reviews
The Violence of the Real, the latest book I have purchased on the subject of Francis Bacon (13 so far, not including the ones I have sold) is quite a good book for its price, its subject matter and its very thorough exploration of the artist. It is a keeper.The first 100 pages are devoted to several essays focusing on portraits, extremeness, the scream, as well as a set of photos of the studio and working documents from the same.The second 100 pages of this elongated format book (rather unique among art books) surveys over 70 paintings from 1945 to 1991 (the year Bacon passed away) with two columns of exploratory text alongside the excellent (if a little small) reproductions. One wishes for a larger format, but wishes are not horses.Additional essays continue after the paintings, followed by a standard biography, a list of solo exhibitions, selected biblio and photo credits. The texts are informative but hardly unique to those who have studied this man, however, this is very worthwhile book at a very good price.For all art lovers, the reason I purchase all these books on this subject is to have all the paintings at my fingertips. I purchase Sotheby catalogs, Christie catalogs and a variety of exhibition booklets to have a copy of every painting. I recently purchased cheaply "The papal portraits" another excellent book, available on Amazon, that includes some excellent close-ups of that series of paintings.It would be a great asset to the art world and all of us art lovers if the Estate of Francis Bacon would undertake a catalogue raisonne of the paintings. Just another wish.