Inside Francis Bacon is the third volume in the Francis Bacon Studies series published by The Estate of Francis Bacon in association with Thames & Hudson, with financial support from the Francis Bacon MB Art Foundation. Martin Harrison, author of Francis Bacon: Catalogue Raisonné, is the series editor.
The six essays in this volume constitute an utterly unique multi-disciplinary study of Bacon’s life and art and disclose fascinating new information about this elusive artist. Where Francis Bacon Studies I and II reflected the application of theory-based methodologies, several of the authors of Inside Francis Bacon consider the artist through biography or the technical analysis of his paintings, in line with the editor’s intention that the Francis Bacon Studies series should embrace the widest possible range of new thinking about Bacon.
Three of the essays (those by Francesca Pipe, Sophie Pretorius and Martin Harrison) are based on archives recently added to the collection of the Estate of Francis Bacon. What they reveal has revolutionised perceptions of Bacon. Very little is known about his early life and career, and the diaries of his two earliest patrons facilitate a much deeper understanding of his formative years. They debunk many of the myths that Bacon and his apologists created in the 1980s: for instance, a museum curator confidently declared that Bacon had suffered a brutal upbringing, including whippings, but evidence published in Inside Francis Bacon seriously challenges these claims. Especially revelatory are the detailed records kept over a long period by Bacon’s doctor, Paul Brass, a generous long loan to the Estate of Francis Bacon by Ruth Brass. Sophie Pretorius’ analysis of them calls for a fundamental revision of prevailing ideas about Bacon’s character and psychology and explains the uneven production rate of his paintings.
Sarah Whitfield sheds significant new light on both Bonnard and Bacon, identifying concerns shared by the two artists that surprise as well as inform. Joyce H. Townsend draws on her scientific and technical investigations into Tate’s most important Bacon paintings and comparisons with the techniques of many other artists to advance enthrallingly fresh information about Bacon’s aims and techniques. Christopher Bucklow extends his meditations on the metaphor system in Bacon’s paintings published in Bacon and the Mind: Art, Neuroscience and Psychology (Francis Bacon Studies I). His essay reflects sometimes unexpected terms of reference ranging from William Blake to Japanese ukiyo‑e prints.
In English
Further information about the book can be found at https://www.francis-bacon.com/insidefrancisbacon
