The Francis Bacon MB Art Foundation has collaborated with the eac. for the exhibition ‘Francis Bacon and the Golden Age of Design’, running at the Espace de l’Art Concret in Mouans-Sartoux from 9 June 2024 until 5 January 2025, by lending several works from the MB Art Collection: two paintings by Francis Bacon, one painting by Roy de Maistre, a rug, a table and a stool designed by Francis Bacon, as well as several archive documents. The Foundation has also sponsored the exhibition catalogue.
The exhibition features a significant collection of Francis Bacon’s works from the early 1930s. Along with design objects, it includes paintings by artists such as Pablo Picasso, Roy de Maistre and Fernand Léger to provide a fuller picture of the context of this period and the various influences on Bacon.
A large part of the exhibition is devoted to paintings from Fernand Léger’s ‘Purist’ period, which are directly echoed in the geometric designs of Francis Bacon’s rugs.
The exhibition examines the processes and tools used to produce Bacon’s prints and illuminates the circumstances of the works’ creation. Through a selection of engravings, it explores the recurrent themes that nourished the painter’s imagination.
Francis Bacon’s stance towards printmaking was characterised by a notable ambivalence. Despite claiming to have no interest in the medium, he ended up agreeing to the reproduction of some of his major works and even became involved in the process of creating these prints.
The first part of the exhibition shows the metal plates used to create some of the engravings, alongside the images that resulted from them.
The hang furthermore emphasises the importance of repeating images, a practice favoured by Bacon, which manifests itself in his graphic works in the principle of reproduction.
Through a selection of prints, the exhibition explores certain themes which were dear to the British painter. Bacon’s favoured themes, which encompass the human figure, bullfighting, Greek mythology and religious subjects, share a common characteristic: a marked interest in the human condition. The presentation of these graphic works therefore provides an opportunity to examine in depth the narratives which stem from these themes.
The display is also punctuated by photographs and working documents from the artist’s various studios, as well as journals and folios that provide a better understanding of Bacon’s approach to engraving.
All the pieces presented come from the MB Art Collection – the private collection of the founder of the Francis Bacon MB Art Foundation.
The Burlington Magazine has published in its September issue an article by Katharina Günther exploring the artistic relationship between the two British artists Denis Wirth-Miller and Francis Bacon. It summarises Katharina Günther’s research, supported in 2014 by our Foundation, on the content of Wirth-Miller studio located in Wivenhoe, Essex.
The image used for the magazine front cover is Study for ‘Dog in Movement’, painted c. 1953 by Denis Wirth-Miller, that is part of the MB Art Collection.
With its strong resemblance to his London studio, the overall set-up of Wirth-Miller’s Wivenhoe atelier must have been to Bacon’s liking. For almost 25 years, he shared the small, cluttered space with Wirth-Miller on a regular basis until in 1975, Bacon bought his own property close to his friend’s house. In the working environment provided by Wirth-Miller, Bacon had found an artistic home away from home.
Katharina Guenther undertook a twelve-month research project analysing a collection of hitherto un-researched material from the MB Art Collection, associated with Francis Bacon.
During a year, the items were thoroughly studied and carefully evaluated with the intention of gaining a better understanding of the material itself, the two men’s relationship to it and Bacon’s activities in the East Anglian countryside.
The fourth scholarship for a young artist, created as part of the partnership established by the Francis Bacon MB Art Foundation and Villa Arson in 2017, was awarded on 28 September 2023 at the opening of the Villa Arson autumn exhibitions.
Lukas Meir began his art studies at the Kunsthochschule Kassel, Germany, and graduated from Villa Arson, Nice, in 2023. His artistic practice includes painting and sculpture.
Meir’s work shows scenes of everyday life, using a visual language that evokes Renaissance religious painting. Through this confrontation, he seeks a level of meaning where the social and moral significance of the apparently profane can find expression.
Figuratively, the human body comes to represent the mind and social position; it becomes a surface of projection and attack oscillating between the need for protection and the need to show oneself.
Lukas Meir has already participated in exhibitions in France and Germany.
He was chosen for this scholarship from a shortlist of 8 young artists who graduated from Villa Arson in 2022 and 2023, distinguishing themselves through their practice of painting and drawing.
The Francis Bacon MB Art Foundation has just completed production of a new Foundation interview, entitled Yves Peyré/Francis Bacon: a continuing conversation.
Directed by Alain Amiel, this interview with Yves Peyré, French writer and poet, and a close friend of Francis Bacon, offers riveting insights into the British artist’s life and work.
Their shared tastes in literature and art, the passionate relationship that Bacon had with France and Paris, the great success met by his exhibitions in the French capital and the influence of Bacon’s work on contemporary artists are among the topics broached by Yves Peyré. A very enlightening interview on an artist who produced a unique and enthralling oeuvre.
The Francis Bacon MB Art Foundation is taking part in the 28th Journées Européennes du Patrimoine (Local Heritage Day) to be held in Monaco on Sunday 24 September 2023.
Our institution will offer three guided tours to its visitors, by appointment only.
To book your visit, please contact the Foundation: +377 93 30 30 33
More details on the “28th Journées Européennes du Patrimoine” here
The Foundation is pleased to announce the release of Bacon Review, the first journal dedicated to Francis Bacon, launched and published by The Estate of Francis Bacon with the financial support of our institution.
The first issue of Bacon Review concentrates on neglected aspects of Francis Bacon’s life and work, presenting his achievements in startlingly new ways.
The journal is a collaborative effort, featuring contributions from experts in art history. Yvonne Scott’s feature offers fresh perspectives on Bacon’s admiration for ancient Egyptian art, while Gill Hedley’s piece tells the story of Bacon’s first important critic, Robert Melville. Sophie Pretorius’s contribution explains the significance of Bacon’s friendship with the artist Richard Hamilton.
Martin Harrison, the journal’s main editor, also writes a piece on the Francis Bacon MB Art Foundation’s activities and collection, focusing on a Jean Shepeard sketch of Francis Bacon which is part of the MB Art Collection (recently acquired from the sale of the Doreen Kern Collection, which Kern, Jean Shepeard’s niece, had inherited from her aunt).
In addition to these insightful features, Bacon Review also includes many previously unseen photographs from the artist’s family archive. The publication promises several surprises that will delight fans of Bacon’s work and provide a new lens through which to appreciate his art.
The Francis Bacon MB Art Foundation is participating in the ‘Face to Face: A Celebration of Portraiture’ exhibition held at the Marlborough Gallery in London until 14 July 2023 by lending two works from the MB Art Collection: a charcoal drawing of Francis Bacon by Maggi Hambling and a photograph of Bacon taken by Richard Avedon in Paris in 1979.
This exhibition coincides with the re-opening of the National Portrait Gallery. Unfolding in thematic sections across two floors, it will explore how artists have pushed the limits of this genre from the early 20th century to the present day.
Portraits are one of the richest veins of Marlborough’s history as a result of the gallery’s eight-decade long commitment to the figurative tradition, championed by its founders through seminal exhibitions of works by Frank Auerbach, Francis Bacon, Lynn Chadwick, Lucian Freud, Maggi Hambling, Alex Katz, Henry Moore and Celia Paul, among many others. These vanguards of modern figuration will be shown on the ground floor alongside iconic photographic portraits by Berenice Abbott, Richard Avedon, Bill Brandt and Brassaï, paying tribute to the critical role Marlborough played at the forefront of exhibiting photography during the 1970s and 80s.
The display on the second floor will explore contemporary perspectives on portraiture, showcasing works by Roxana Halls, Hugo Hamper-Potts, Natalia Hazell, Alexander James, Lorena Levi, Darren LyndeMann, Christian Quin Newell, Liorah Tchiprout, Georg Wilson, Vicky Wright, Deanio X and Ki Yoong. Exploring themes of identity, intimacy, and status, these works synthesise different elements of the portraiture tradition, not just through figuration but with conceptual, indexical, or object-based modes of representation.
The Francis Bacon MB Art Foundation took part in a film produced by Mount Venus Productions, broadcast in December on the Irish channel RTE 1, about Francis Bacon’s close links with Ireland and its influence on his early career as an artist.
The Foundation participated in the film Francis Bacon: The Outsider, by welcoming the film team within its premises. The goal of their visit to Monaco was to discover the first oil on canvas by Francis Bacon, ‘Painting’, 1930, currently on display at the Foundation in Monaco and part of the MB Art Collection. One of the highlights of the documentary is the reveal of the place in Ireland where Bacon started to paint that first oil.
Presented and narrated by U2’s Adam Clayton, a huge admirer of Francis Bacon, this insightful documentary traces the artist’s time in Ireland and examines the complex relationship Francis Bacon had with the country of his birth. Surprisingly few people are aware that Bacon was born in Baggot Street, Dublin and spent much of his early life in Ireland. Bacon was thought to have left Ireland in his teens, never to return but recently discovered diaries from 1929 written by Bacon’s lover and patron, Eric Allden, show otherwise.
Thanks to these diaries, a different side to Bacon is revealed with some remarkable discoveries made about the artist’s early life and work. The documentary charts a course from Dublin to Kildare, London, Monaco and Renvyle in Galway, bringing the diaries to life. Clayton goes on a road trip to retrace Bacon’s steps and explore what the artist saw, the people he met and the impact this had on him.
On this journey, Clayton talks to Dr. Margarita Cappock, an expert on Bacon who was project manager of Bacon’s reconstructed studio at the Hugh Lane Gallery and has spent twenty years researching and writing about the artist. Cappock was the first to realise the significance of the Irish chapters in Eric Allden’s diaries and highlights what this means in context of Bacon’s life and art. The documentary also includes contributions by Annalyn Swan and Mark Stevens, authors of Francis Bacon: Revelations, the latest biography on Bacon, and Martin Harrison, author of the definitive catalogue raisonné of Bacon’s paintings. John Minihan, Irish photographer and a friend of Bacon’s, provides a vivid personal insight to the man he knew, as he photographed him and socialised with him in London and Paris.
Directed and produced by Karen McGrath, Mount Venus Productions, with haunting images of the West of Ireland, shot by Director of Photography, John Fay and original music written and produced by Gavin Friday with Michael Hennessy.
The Francis Bacon MB Art Foundation has just completed production of a documentary entitled Francis Bacon/Ernest Pignon-Ernest: Exchanges, directed by Alain Amiel.
On 27 September 1987, when Libération journalist Henri-François Debailleux asked Francis Bacon if he was interested in contemporary art, and that of France in particular, the British artist responded: “A few years ago I saw some photos by a French artist, Ernest Pignon-Ernest, who was making drawings on walls, and I found that very interesting.”
The two artists never met but wrote to each other several times. In fact, Bacon asked Pignon-Ernest to send him a number of enlargements of his drawings.
In this documentary, Pignon-Ernest discusses his passion for Bacon and talks about the themes common to the work of both.
In interviews, Jean Frémon, director of the Galerie Lelong, who has exhibited both artists, Yves Peyré and Frank Maubert, writers and friends of Bacon, and Libération art critic Henri-François Debailleux discuss the resonances they perceive between the two artists, and the works that connect them.
