Francis Bacon : The Life of an Artist: Art History School

hello my name is paul priestley welcome to art history school the home of art history for everyone today we are going to look at the british artist francis bacon whose wildly inventive and tortured paintings explore adult subjects and reflect a life lived to extravagant extremes francis bacon was born on the 28th of october 1909 in 63 lower baggart street dublin to english parents he was named after so his father claimed his famous ancestor the english philosopher scientist and former lord chancellor francis bacon edward his father was a racehorse trainer a veteran of the boer war and worked at the war office during world war one his mother was christina firth a steel hares who lived and loved the life of a socialite his childhood was spent at canny court counter-kill deer but it was blighted by severe asthma from which he suffered all his life bacon was a shy child who enjoyed dressing up this and his effeminate manner infuriated his father the second of five children bacon was often left to his own devices and consequently formed a close relationship with his nanny jesse lightfoot who would be a major influence on his later life with the outbreak of war in 1914 the family moved to london we lived near kensington gardens we called bacon they used to spray the grass with phosphorescence they imagined the zeppelins would see it during the bombing raids and think it was the lights of london it was a mad idea after the war in dublin he grew up amongst the early campaigns of the irish nationalist movement and in 1924 shortly after the establishment of the irish free state his parents moved to linton hall in gloucestershire that year at a fancy dress party at cavendish hall in suffolk bacon dressed as a flapper with beaded dress high heels and a long cigar holder he was very unhappy and repeatedly ran away from school in cheltenham family relationships became abusive and brutal as bacon came to terms with his own emerging homosexuality in 1926 bacon's father repelled by his homosexuality threw him out of the family home for wearing his mother's clothes bacon aged just 16 arrived in london with little schooling and a weekly allowance of just three pounds from his mother he lived the life of a vagrant in 1927 he moved to berlin where he saw frix lang's film metropolis and sergey eisenstein's battleship potemkin both were influential on his work he was impressed by picasso's 1927 exhibition at the paul rosenberg gallery he said i went to paris for a short time while there i saw many picassos and thought well i will try and paint too as a consequence he attended the free art academies in paris and began to learn to paint and draw in 1928 he returned to london and established himself and his childhood nami jesse lightfoot at queensberry muse west in south kensington he worked as a furniture and interior designer one of his patrons the artist roy de mestre became his mentor and encouraged him to take up oil painting later in 1930 bacon shared a studio with gene shepherd and roy de meister an early patron was the businessman eric hall who became bacon's lover and supporter picasso was a strong influence and bacon's 1933 crucifix painting as seen here was his first painting to attract public attention it was in part based on picasso's the three dancers the crucifixion was shown at the mere gallery in london in 1933 and was displayed with a picasso in herbert reed's book art now the painting was bought by the art collector sir michael sadler in 1934 bacon organized his first solo exhibition in the basement of a friend's house in kersen street london and renamed it transition gallery for the purpose the exhibition was not well received and he responded by destroying his paintings 1936 saw his paintings rejected by herbert reed for the international surrealist exhibition undeterred in january 1937 bacon and de mester helped eric hall organise the young british painters exhibition at the thomas agnew and sons gallery the show also included works by british artists graham sutherland and victor passmore for the next few years bacon created few paintings and destroyed most of them at the start of the second world war in 1939 bacon was exempted from military service because of his asthma he became a member of the air raid precaution sector which involved non-military search and rescue but was discharged when he fell ill from the dust and the rubble in 1944 he took the decision to fully commit himself to painting with renewed passion he created three studies for figures at the base of a crucifixion which he later considered as the beginning of his career bacon said the figures in the painting represented the furies ancient greek goddesses who punished human wrongdoing and are often seen in paintings about the death of jesus to understand this painting you need to understand the context the second world war was coming to an end the first photograph some film footage of nazi concentration camps had become widely available and some saw bacon's painting as a reflection of the horror of the holocaust by 1946 bacon was a central figure in the artistic milieu of port war soho charismatic articulate and well-read he spent much of his time eating drinking and gambling with lucy and freud michael andrews and friends and graeme sutherland's recommendation erica browson secured bacon a contract with the hanover gallery in london who sold painting 1946 to the museum of modern art in new york in 1948. he said later my family didn't want me to be a painter they thought i was just a drifter especially my mother it was only when she began to realize i was making money out of it that we made any contact painting 1946 was created immediately after world war ii and is a damning image of an anonymous public figure probably neville chamberlin the pre-war british prime minister who was known for carrying an umbrella his dark suit the deathly complexion and the toothy grimace suggest a deep brutality beneath his proper exterior in the background three window shades suggest those found in an often circulated photograph of hitler's bunker an image bacon included in numerous works the crucified cow carcasses add to the sense of menace in the painting unfortunately bacon gambled away the proceeds of the sale of the painting in monte carlo his first exhibition was in 1949 at the hanover gallery for this show he painted a series entitled heads significant for introducing two important motifs the first being the scream the inspiration for screaming mouths which appear in many of his late 1940s and early 1950s paintings was drawn from a number of sources medical textbooks the works of matthias grundwald and most importantly a still from eisenstein's 1925 silent film battleship potemkin which shows a close-up of a nurse's head screaming in terror the second motif was diego velazquez portrait of pope innocent the tenth a painting bacon claimed only to have seen from reproductions the papal theme was obviously significant to bacon possibly because of the church's attitude to homosexuality the heads series also make greater use of enclosing devices bars and cages that suggest claustrophobia and anxiety 1951 saw a period of despair and emotional instability following the death of jesse lightfoot once his name but also a vital emotional pillar and loyal partner in crime she acted as his housekeeper and cook who bizarrely often slept on the kitchen table during the day throughout the war bacon and eric hall had staged illegal gambling parties where she acted as the hat check girl and lavatory attendant diligently extracting large tips from visitors to help with their finances bacon looked after her to the end and was present at her death bacon's first post-war solo exhibition was at the hanover gallery in december 1951 and was followed by his new york debut at the durlacher gallery in october 1953. the paintings of popes which had established his reputation now alternated with contemporary figures in suits who were similarly entrapped however following a trip to egypt and south africa a lighter tonality emerged in some of his paintings in 1953 the hanover gallery held an exhibition of his paintings that included two figures a depiction of two men embraced in bed the image created a huge scandal as homosexuality was a criminal offence in england until it was decriminalized in 1967. in 1954 bacon visited italy where he made a point of not seeing velazquez painting pope innocent the 10th in rome and he avoided the venice binary where his paintings were on display at the british pavilion with those of ben nicholson and lucian freud during this period he visited peter lacy in tangiers with whom he had a turbulent affair he also met the american writers william burrows and the painter ahmed yakubi bacon returned regularly to tangiers until lacey's death in 1962 1957 saw bacon's exhibition at the hanover gallery inspired by van gogh's the painter on the road to tarascon these paintings incorporated a more vivid palette and bolder brushstrokes and were quite a contrast to his previous more somber works as he approached his 50th birthday bacon took stock of his career he'd had some success but was frequently in debt mainly due to his gambling in 1958 he suddenly signed a contract with marlborough fine art after its directors offered to clear his debts they also promised to build up his international profile which they did when they secured bacon's first major retrospective exhibition at the prestigious tate gallery in may the marlborough also seemed to found a way to stop him destroying his canvases in 1961 bacon settled in reese muse south kensington where he remained for the rest of his life at the time he recorded an interview with the art critic david sylvester in which he described his studio and working conditions i work much better in chaos chaos for me breeds images he said in 1963 64 bacon's international reputation was confirmed with his retrospective at the solomon r guggenheim museum in new york and by the publication of ronald alley's catalogue resume of his work during the 60s bacon achieved a new level of virtuosity and invention his paintings combined dramatic brush work whipped up impastos and trails of paint often squeezed directly from the tube this contrasted with backgrounds often composed of bright flat expanses of colour despite his heightened success he refused the carnegie institute award in 1967 and donated his reubens prize towards restoration of florence following the flood of 1966. in october 1971 he was given the rare honour for a living artist of a retrospective at the grand palais in paris the exhibition was a spectacular success but two days before it opened his longtime lover george dyer committed suicide in their hotel room this event devastated him and as a moving memorial to his lover's death bacon painted three large triptyches in 1971 72 and 73 known as the black triptyches throughout the 1970s bacon traveled regularly to new york and paris and various publications helped establish the idea that his work was a reflection of the anxiety of modern life success continued when in 1973 he became the first contemporary english artist to have a major exhibition at the metropolitan museum of art in new york in the mid-1970s baker met john edwards who became his constant companion and photographer bacon began to retreat from his formerly boisterous social life to focus on his work and his platonic relationship with the much younger edwards his paintings were now dominated by the triptych but the figures were calmer his reputation as the greatest british painter since jmw turner was being formed and his legendary status was perhaps illustrated in 1977 when the police had to cordon off the street to the gallery claude bernard in paris to funnel the crowds towards the gallery to see the 20 paintings on show major exhibitions of his work followed culminating in a second tate gallery retrospective in 1985 that later traveled to stuttgart berlin moscow and washington his last finished painting study of a bull was completed in 1991. the bull appears to be backing into a burning black void or maybe escaping it to a heavenly light it appears this extraordinary painting was completed by someone who seemed aware that death was not too far away most of the two meter high painting was deliberately raw canvas and beneath the bull bacon used real dust from his famously shambolic studio as he himself said dust is eternal after all we all returned to dust on a visit to madrid in april 1992 bacon was hospitalized with pneumonia exacerbated by asthma he died on the 28th of april and was cremated in spain and at his request there was no service his ashes were scattered in a private ceremony in england john edwards was named as the sole heir to his estate and in 1998 his studio in south kensington was acquired by the hugh lane gallery in dublin where it was recreated as a room for visitors to experience francis bacon was one of the most successful british painters of the 20th century and many regard him as one of the world's most important painters like any major artistic phenomenon his work reflects not only the complex inner world of the artist but also the time and the circumstances in which he lived and worked in 2013 his painting three studies of lucium freud broke the record for the most expensive work ever sold at auction when it was purchased for 142 million dollars at christie's in new york thank you for watching i hope you have really enjoyed learning about francis bacon a brilliant if polarizing artists if you have then please subscribe to my channel and do not forget to click the little black belt because that will tell you when my next video is released if you want to support the making of these videos then please check out my patreon channel where you will find lots of interesting rewards in return for your patronage thank you for watching i will see you in the next video goodbye

Channel: Art History School

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Keywords: Francis Bacon, francis bacon crucifixion, British artist, Paul Priestley, artist in school, art history, famous artists, artist, History of art, francis bacon painting, tate gallery, Three Studies of Lucian Freud, English artist, francis bacon painter, Francis Bacon 3 studies, Tate gallery, 3 studies for figures at the base of a crucifixion, Portrait of Pope Innocent X, screaming pope, screaming popes, contemporary art

Id: l0hI-iZhFCg

Length: 18min 28sec (1108 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 19 2021