Sunday, 6 February 2022

Francis Bacon - Selected Graphics

Étude du corps humain d'après Ingres, 1984 after Study of a Human Body after Ingres, 1982

 

An exhibition of Francis Bacon prints timed to coincide with the current blockbuster show Francis Bacon: Man and Beast round the corner at the Royal Academy. This exhibition focuses on Bacon's graphic oeuvre. Bacon was biased against the print medium initially. He thought of prints as mere reproductions rather than their techniques as valid art forms in their own right. It wasn't until the proposal to illustrate the text of Surrealist poet René Crevel with his etchings that a change in Bacon's attitude was affected. This show focuses mainly on lithographic reproductions and aquatints of Bacon's more famous paintings and his own idiosyncratic take on the figure and human condition. Looking at the featured prints one can completely understand Bacon's reservations about the print medium. Something is lost in translation. These are just 'mere reproductions' of his more nuanced painted works and possibly created just as a commercial venture. As good as they are as reproductions they lack texture, the surfaces are flat and lifeless in comparison to their painted originals. Anybody having experienced an original Bacon painting will notice the differences. Unlike the print output of artists such as Rembrandt and his magnificent etchings for example, they do not say or add anything new to Bacon's oeuvre. This exhibition however serves as a nice little appetiser for what will be a more substantial main course of original Bacon paintings being served up at the RA when I visit Francis Bacon: Man and Beast.

 

 Triptych, 1983 after Triptych 1983

 


installation view
 
Trois études pour un autoportrait, 1981 after Three Studies for a Self-Portrait 1979

Seated Figure, 1992 after Seated Figure 1977

 
Triptyque Août, 1979 after Triptych August 1972


Oedipe et le Sphinx d'apres Ingres, 1984 after Oedipus and the Sphinx after Ingres 1983


 installation view
 
Study for Self-Portrait, 1984 after Study for Self-Portrait 1982
 
Triptych, 1989 after the central panel of the triptych Triptych 1987
 
Deuxiéme version du Triptych 1944 after Second Version of the Triptych 1944, 1989
 
Étude du corps humain d'après Ingres, 1984 after Study of a Human Body after Ingres, 1982
Triptych, 1987 afterTriptych 1986-1987
 

 
Logique de la sensation, 1981 after Study from the Human Body 1981

Étude pour un portrait du Pape Innocent X d'apres Vélasquez 1989 after Study for a Portrait of Pope Innocent X 1965

 

 

 

Francis Bacon - Selected Graphics
until 26th February
Marlborough Gallery
6 Albemarle Street
London
W1

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