I’m not even going to begin to attempt to sum up the fifty years of artistic output from genius Francis Bacon not when even the great man himself ever did and because it’s already been done so brilliantly in this book by Anthony Bond with Thames & Hudson. If you want a handy compendium of his most important and mesmerising work as well as an insight into his complicated and Colony room dwelling life then you need look no further. Five Decades contains over 215 colour illustrations of distorted popes, paralytic toddlers and animal carcasses share space with some wonderful photos of Francis and friends alongside well informed yet very accessible essays from a number of international art scholars. If you’ve been to the exhibitions, seen the hilarious South Bank show special and watched Derek Jacobi’s faultless performance in Love is the Devil then this document could well be the final stage in understanding the man to have whose paintings had such a monumental, game-changing impact on art itself. In fact given how resonant and relevant his work is today, it’s really hard to believe that the great man has been left this mortal coil just over twenty years ago.
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Love those high quality prints… I’m very intrigued by Bacon. Do you have any word on how good the Five Decades hardcover book is? I’ve heard very mixed review sadly (I had high hopes…)
Nice article Neil.
Here’s the YouTube link for the South Bank Show mentioned. Well worth another watch:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxiv3OW6wkg