BACON, Francis [Peter Beard].
Recent Paintings 1968-1974.
New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art , 1975.
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First Edition of Francis Bacon's Recent Paintings 1968-1974; Inscribed Twice by Photographer Peter Beard
First edition of this collection featured at the Metropolitan Museum in 1975, focuses on themes of loss, grief, and the intense psychological exploration of the human form following the death of his lover, George Dyer. Oblong octavo, original black wrappers with the front wrapper die-cut to reveal color self-portrait, illustrated throughout. Presentation copy, inscribed twice in red felt tip by Bacon's muse, friend, and collaborator, photographer Peter Beard: On the first page of the introduction, "For Suzan with warmest thoughts and regards as ever, Peter Beard"; and on the first page of the interview section, "for a dead-ele book in the works—like 1984 MOMA Peter Beard 4/13/83 57th 63rd 60th." Francis Bacon and Peter Beard first met at a gallery opening in 1957. They became fast friends, brought together by their shared personal and artistic motivations. Bacon was particularly inspired by Beard's famous aerial photographs depicting decomposing African elephant carcasses. They were massively influential on his meditations on death and decomposition: "For me, the most poignant are the ones of decomposing elephants where, over time, as they disintegrate, the bones form magnificent sculptures, which are not just abstract forms, but have all the memory traces of life's futility and despair." Bacon painted nine major portraits of Beard during his career and used his likeness for many other works. Upon his death in 1992, his apartment contained more than 200 of Beard's photographs, signifying their lasting connection and collaboration. In 1972, the Beard conducted a series of interviews with Bacon in which they discuss how Beard's photographs influenced his painting dubbed, the "Dead Elephant Interviews." Excerpts from these interviews appear in this catalogue for the first time. In very good condition with damp-staining to the top of the front panel, rubbing, and a small tear to cut-out edge. An exceptional association.
Francis Bacon was a figurative painter known for his emotionally charged raw imagery and fixation on personal motifs. Best known for his depictions of popes, crucifixions and portraits of close friends, his abstracted figures are typically isolated in geometrical cages which give them vague 3D depth, set against flat, nondescript backgrounds. Bacon said that he saw images "in series", and his work, which numbers c. 590 extant paintings along with many others he destroyed, typically focuses on a single subject for sustained periods, often in triptych or diptych formats. His output can be broadly described as sequences or variations on single motifs; including the 1930s Picasso-influenced bio-morphs and Furies, the 1940s male heads isolated in rooms or geometric structures, the 1950s screaming popes, the mid-to-late 1950s animals and lone figures, the early 1960s crucifixions, the mid to late 1960s portraits of friends, the 1970s self-portraits, and the cooler more technical 1980s paintings. Bacon took up painting in his twenties, having drifted in the late 1920s and early 1930s as an interior decorator, bon vivant and gambler. He said that his artistic career was delayed because he spent too long looking for subject matter that could sustain his interest. His breakthrough came with the 1944 triptych Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion, which sealed his reputation as a uniquely bleak chronicler of the human condition. From the mid-1960s he mainly produced portraits of friends and drinking companions, either as single or triptych panels. Following the suicide of his lover George Dyer in 1971 his art became more sombre, inward-looking and preoccupied with the passage of time and death. The climax of this later period is marked by masterpieces, including his 1982's "Study for Self-Portrait" and Study for a Self-Portrait—Triptych, 1985–86.
Recent Paintings 1968-1974.
$1,250.00
In Stock
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