Someone's paintings of Francis Bacon are associated with the "bleeding" canvases of Edward Munch. Others, observing the bizarre game of images, will immediately recall the masterpieces of Dali and other surrealists. In the end, the correlation of the works of an English artist with a certain style flow is not so important, art critics will (or have already begun) to do this. The viewer is destined for a different fate - to contemplate the paintings of Francis Bacon and share the feelings of "hell that descended to the earth."
Exile childhood
The early years of the artist are colored by the disturbing events of the First World War, because of which his family had to leave Ireland and go to London. However, the year 1918, which brought relief to humanity, did not diminish Francis' sense of anxiety . For the future artist, the theater of operations was transferred to his own house, and the tyrant father became the main opponent. Once he found the boy in a few spicy activities: he tried on women's clothing. The father did not accept the homosexuality of the son and drove him out of the house. For a whole year, 17-year-old Bacon had to be content with random part-time jobs and the money that his mother sent. Then the tough parent changed his anger to mercy and sent Francis on a trip with a close friend of the family. There, the young men became lovers ...
Style Searches
In 1927, the young man ends up in Paris, where he observes the Picasso exhibition, and decides for himself: he, Francis Bacon, is an artist whose paintings will sometime be honored with such fame. The young man was greatly impressed not only by modernist art, but also classical. Poussin's “Beating the Babies” struck the artist with his emotionality, it seemed to him that the canvas was just one cry.
The last statement is very characteristic of expressionists. Looking ahead, let's say that Bacon Francis (the paintings and biography of the artist confirm this) shared their understanding of the world as a cruel environment in which a person is extremely fragile and unhappy. And creativity from such an angle turns into a cry because of a feeling of ontological loneliness.
Returning to London, Bacon masters the profession of interior decorator. The tapestries he created, the furniture gained popularity among the public, which cannot be said unconditionally about works of fine art. In 1933, one of Bacon’s reproductions was honored to be next to Picasso’s canvas (in the book of the famous critic Herbert Reed). This somewhat encouraged the artist, but not for long. The exposition organized by him in 1934 did not cause, to put it mildly, great furore. Two years later, failure again. The international exhibition of surrealists, which offered Francis Bacon paintings, refused him, responding in a typically avant-garde manner: they say, the paintings are not surreal enough.
Creative maturity
The war years were not the easiest for Francis. At first he was attributed to the Civil Defense Reserve, but then they abandoned this idea because of the artist’s state of health (he suffered from asthma). Somewhere between 1943 and 1944, insight descended on Bacon. He destroyed most of his early works, and instead proposed to the world "Three stages of the image based on the crucifixion." It was then that the artist Francis Bacon was born again, paintings whose biography will be the subject of discussion of half the world.
The triptych was exhibited in the Lefebvre Gallery, causing a great scandal. The latter, however, only contributed to an increase in interest in the artist. In the fall of 1953, Bacon held a personal exhibition in New York, and a year later he was honored to represent Great Britain at the XXVII Biennale in Venice.
"Study of the human body" by Maybridge
In the early 60s, Bacon moved for the last time. He decides to settle in the room where horses were once kept. The studio stable became a legend during the artist's lifetime, because it was here that Francis Bacon created paintings with names that later became known to any admirer of modern art. And exactly the same legendary became chaos that reigned in the workshop, which contained sketches, postcards, Francis needed newspaper passages. The work of the photographer Maybridge, which served as the source for the creation of "Studies of the human body", was also in the heap. The woman and child depicted by Bacon are “descended” from the early creations of the master. However, the artist gives the borrowed plot a tragic flavor. A sealed woman is, in fact, a piece of wounded flesh, not far from which is a paralytic child. The extremely gloomy atmosphere of Francis Bacon's painting is complemented by the flashy scarlet tone of a completely inhumanized space.
Lying figure
For two decades, the artist and his friends became a regular at the Room with Columns bar. There he found models for himself, one of which, Henrietta Moraes, is depicted as a “Lying figure”. This canvas, like no other, is full of realistic details: looking closely, you can find a syringe stuck in the girl’s shoulder, as well as a bed with stripes, an ashtray, light bulbs. At the same time, the figure of Henrietta herself is drawn more weakly.
In the plot of the picture, analogies with canvases of other masters are clearly visible, for example, “Guernica” and “Avignon Maidens” by Picasso. Such roll calls are not accidental: Francis Bacon, whose paintings were created with an eye on the work of the Spanish surrealist, sought to “free” human nakedness, tabooed by centuries of hypocrisy.
Self portraits
The beginning of the 70s was marked for the artist by a number of dramatic events. In 1971, Francis's lover, George Dyer, dies with whom he lived for about seven years. Following him, John Dickin, a photographer who worked closely with the artist, passes away (it is known that Bacon never painted his works from life). Such losses forced the master to capture himself more and more often. “I have no one to draw,” he remarks sadly.
Like the rest of Francis Bacon's paintings, his self-portraits strive to capture the true essence of the model. Hence the overwhelming disgust of the artist to frozen facial expressions or beneficial poses. On the contrary, Bacon’s image is dynamic, it changes under the wizard’s brush. Some features are drawn in more detail, while others disappear altogether.
Eternal glory
In 1988, back then in Soviet Moscow, an exhibition of Francis' works, even in a limited number, was held, which served as reliable proof of the recognition of the artist outside the Western world.
At times, Bacon’s paintings cause conflicting reviews, but the vast majority of critics still agree that the tragic, expressionistic sketches leave no one indifferent. They are relevant now, 23 years after the death of Bacon.