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Bacon Portraits And Self Portraits

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Francis Bacon jolted the art world in a way that is only now, some nine years after his death, being fully appreciated. During the final years of his bizarre life he achieved fame and museum acceptance and the accompanying high figure prices for his canvases. And of course soon after his death there was the usual debate about whether he was a painter or a one note song. This beautifully presented volume seems to dispell the latter, as here is documentation of all the head-only portraits Bacon painted of his friends and of himself. His usual "brutal vision" seems less forced when the paintings are accompanied by photogrphs of the models: some of Bacon's friends were fairly distorted before his brush hit the canvas! This book allows the reader to examine a narrow part of Bacon's output and in doing so focuses keenly on his view of the world, his pallete and his technique. Very fine essays by Milan Kundera and France Borel enhance this sensitive tribute to one of the more important 20th Century figurative painters.

For those of you who have spent considerable time reading about the Templars, Illuminatus, Masons, et. al. then this book would be of no shock to you. Francis Bacon in the disquise of an artist, in the disquise of the painted. The art itself lends itself to the greater mystery, and as such is a must have for any enthusiast.