Francis Bacon: Books and Painting (ENG)

Published to accompany the first Francis Bacon retrospective in Paris for twenty years, this catalogue analyses Bacon s works from 1971 onwards in light of his relationship to literature. Bacon always vigorously opposed over-analysis of his paintings, preferring to interpret them in purely illustrative or symbolic terms; he admitted, however, that literature was a powerful stimulus to his imagination. The artist was inspired by the images conjured up by certain texts: Aeschylus phrase the reek of human blood smiles out at me in particular haunted Bacon, while his 1978 work Painting refers to T. S. Eliot s seminal poem The Waste Land. The inventory of Bacon s personal library has identified more than 1,300 books, ranging from Bataille and Conrad to Nietzsche and Leiris. Including twelve of Bacon s renowned triptychs, this lavish publication features eleven gatefolds and some sixty paintings created by Bacon between 1971 and his death in 1992. Reproduced here with analyses of Bacon s paintings in the light of some of his most admired authors, these specially commissioned texts reveal new ways of understanding some of the most powerful works in the modern canon. About the Author Didier Ottinger is assistant director of the Centre National dArt et de Culture Georges-Pompidou, Musee National dArt Moderne, Paris. n Martin Harrison is the author of In Camera: Francis Bacon and is the editor of the forthcoming Francis Bacon Catalogue Raisonne, a project with which Rebecca Daniels is also closely involved. They live in England. Michael Peppiatt is the literary editor of Le Monde and arts correspondent for The New York Times and The Financial Times. In 1985, he became editor and publisher of Art International magazine. He divides his time between Paris and London.

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