The retrospective of British Painter Francis Bacon that opened last week at the Metropolitan Museum of Art is one of their best shows in years. We are glad Bacon's work is finally getting the attention it deserves. We studied Bacon extensively back in 1993 before many people had started hearing of him. At that time, David Sylvester's book, Interviews With Francis Bacon: The Brutality of Fact, was one of our favorite art books. An enigmatic and reserved personality, Bacon revealed the details of his life and work only to Sylvester. In addition to picking up a copy of that book we urge you to get to know Bacon's work by seeing this show at the Met.
What is most informative about the exhibition is that you absolutely must see Bacon's work in person. No exceptions. This artist cannot be appreciated any other way. Even the most advanced high-resolution printing processes cannot accurately reproduce the chromatic intensity of the pigments Bacon used on canvas. Plus, the experience of seeing Bacon's vivid color and textured surfaces encased in glass, as Bacon himself preferred his works to be displayed, cannot be reproduced on paper.
Bacon's early work tends to be dark and grey, but in the Sixties and Seventies he began to have a real love affair with the emotion and heat of color. Intense works such as Three Studies for a Crucifixon hit you in the gut from afar before you even enter the room.
Three Studies for a Crucifixon, 1962
In this show the heavy gold frames remind of an earlier, more pompous era, but seem to work in a strange way because of their very contrast with the rawness of Bacon's surfaces. Paint texture dominates, dry areas of canvas left unpainted recede. Claustrophobic, flat spaces abound. Portraits of people and baboons shriek with the same bared teeth, as Bacon the Atheist depicted man as just another animal.
Study of a Baboon, 1953
Just as Sylvester's interview revealed, the show also explores Bacon's use of photography as a source of inspiration. Sports photography and random shots of friends often supplied the human body's movement Bacon attempted to capture. You can feel the tense, fleeting emotions in these twisted masses of flesh.
Three Figures in a Room, 1964
In the comments album at the show's end, New York Gallerist Tony Shafrazi wrote that the Met has pulled off "one of the best exhibitions of Francis Bacon, ever." We recommend you see it for yourself!
The show will be open until August 16, 2009. All images courtesy of the Met.
