Looking back at Francis Bacon

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David Sylvester's book "Looking Back at Francis Bacon" is a unique portrait of the 20th-century painter Francis Bacon. It explores the development of his work, discusses his inspirations, intentions, and working methods, and includes previously unpublished extracts from conversations with Bacon. The book also corrects errors about Bacon's life.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 272 pages
Publication date: 13 January 2022
Publisher: Thames & Hudson Ltd

Controversial in both life and art, Francis Bacon was one of the most important painters of the 20th century. His monumental, unsettling images have an extraordinary power to disturb, shock, and haunt the spectator, 'to unlock the valves of feeling and therefore return the onlooker to life more violently.' Drawing on his personal knowledge of Bacon's inspirations, intentions, and working methods, David Sylvester surveys the development of the work from 1933 to the early 1990s and discusses critically a number of its crucial aspects. He also reproduces previously unpublished extracts from his celebrated conversations with Bacon in which the artist speaks about himself, modern painters, and the art of the past. Finally, Sylvester gives a brief account of Bacon's life, correcting certain errors that elsewhere have been presented as facts.

Divided into the sections 'Review,' 'Reflections,' 'Fragments of Talk,' and 'Biographical Note, Looking Back at Francis Bacon' is a unique portrait of one of the creative geniuses of our age by a writer of comparable distinction.

Weight: 1132g
Dimension: 271 x 268 x 28 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780500296479