Revisions: Francis Bacon in the Act of Painting, jointly written by Martin Harrison and Sophie Pretorius, was published by The Estate of Francis Bacon Publishing in association with Thames & Hudson, with financial support from the Francis Bacon MB Art Foundation.
Bacon’s works often lost and gained a great deal after leaving his studio, as he frequently found ways to alter, improve or destroy his paintings, even as they hung on the walls of gallerists and collectors. From the sudden absence of a cigarette in Study of a Portrait of a Man (1969) to the removal of Richard Chopping’s central figure in the middle panel of Triptych 1974‒77, Bacon’s revisions vary dramatically in scale and intention. Diptychs become triptychs, seemingly important details disappear without ceremony, and figures flit between works like ghosts.
Many artists make changes to their paintings while they are in progress, but in few instances do photographic records exist. Francis Bacon’s oeuvre provides a rare exception. With first and final versions presented side by side for the first time, Revisions: Francis Bacon in the Act of Painting provides detailed, completely new insights into Bacon the creator: his process, his intentions, and what does and doesn’t make a ‘Bacon’, according to the artist himself.
In English
