Since his death in April 12 Francis Bacon has been acclaimed as one of the very greatest of modern painters. Yet most analyses of Bacon actually neutralize his work by discussing it as an existential expression and as the horrifying communication of an isolated individualâe"which simply transfers the pain in the paintings back to Bacon himself. This study is the first attempt to account for the pain of the viewer. It is also, most challengingly, an explanation of what Baconâe(tm)s art tells us about ourselves as individuals. For, during this very personal investigation, the author comes to realize that the effect of Baconâe(tm)s work is founded upon the way that each of us carves our identity, our âeoeself,âe from the inchoate evidence of our senses, using the conventions of representation as tools. It is in his warping of these conventions of the senses, rather than in the superficial distortion of his images, that Bacon most radically confronts âeoeart,âe and ourselves as individuals.

The first in a series of books that sheds new light on Francis Bacon's art and motivations, published under the aegis of the Estate of Francis Bacon Bacon and the Mind sheds light on Francis Bacon’s art by exploring his motivations, and in so doing opens up new ways of understanding his paintings. It comprises five essays by prominent scholars in their respective disciplines, illustrated throughout by Bacon’s works. Christopher Bucklow argues compellingly that Bacon does not depict the reality of his subjects, but rather their reality for him—in his memory, in his sensibility, and in his private world of sensations and ideas. Steven Jaron’s essay questions the psychological implications of Bacon’s habitual language, his obsession with “the wound,” vulnerability, and the nervous system. Darian Leader’s essay “Bacon and the Body,” presents the latest of his fresh and stimulating insights into the artist. The focus in John Onians’s “Francis Bacon: A Neuroarthistory” is the effect of Bacon’s unconscious mental processes in the creation of his paintings. “The ‘Visual Shock’ of Francis Bacon: An Essay in Neuroaesthetics” is a newly edited and now fully illustrated re-presentation of an article by Semir Zeki, previously accessible only as an online academic paper.

Since his death in April 12 Francis Bacon has been acclaimed as one of the very greatest of modern painters. Yet most analyses of Bacon actually neutralize his work by discussing it as an existential expression and as the horrifying communication of an isolated individualâe"which simply transfers the pain in the paintings back to Bacon himself. This study is the first attempt to account for the pain of the viewer. It is also, most challengingly, an explanation of what Baconâe(tm)s art tells us about ourselves as individuals. For, during this very personal investigation, the author comes to realize that the effect of Baconâe(tm)s work is founded upon the way that each of us carves our identity, our âeoeself,âe from the inchoate evidence of our senses, using the conventions of representation as tools. It is in his warping of these conventions of the senses, rather than in the superficial distortion of his images, that Bacon most radically confronts âeoeart,âe and ourselves as individuals.

In June of 1963, when Michael Peppiatt first met Francis Bacon, the former was a college boy at Cambridge, the latter already a famous painter, more than thirty years his senior. And yet, Peppiatt was welcomed into the volatile artist's world; Bacon, considered by many to be “mad, bad, and dangerous to know,” proved himself a devoted friend and father figure, even amidst the drinking and gambling. Though Peppiatt would later write perhaps the definitive biography of Bacon, his sharply drawn memoir has a different vigor, revealing the artist at his most intimate and indiscreet, and his London and Paris milieus in all their seediness and splendor. Bacon is felt with immediacy, as Peppiatt draws from contemporary diaries and records of their time together, giving us the story of a friendship, and a new perspective on an artist of enduring fascination.

The third book in the Francis Bacon Studies series, this volume reveals fundamental insights into the artist’s character and psychology that will change existing perceptions. Very little is known about Francis Bacon’s early career, but this third installment in the Bacon estate’s groundbreaking series provides exciting new insight into and analysis of the elusive artist. Archived material recently added to the Estate of Francis Bacon’s collection—including the diaries of Bacon’s first two patrons and an extensive number of records kept by Bacon’s doctor, Paul Brass—has allowed Francesca Pipe, Sophie Pretorius, and Martin Harrison to delve deeper into the artist’s formative years than ever before and revolutionize existing perceptions of Bacon’s character and psychology. Essays by Sarah Whitfield, Joyce Townsend, and Christopher Bucklow draw on biographical details of the artist’s life and technical analysis of his work. Utilizing this more traditional, art-historical approach, these scholars examine the complex relationships between Bacon and his peers and offer new insights into the artist’s methods and the system of metaphors within his paintings. This fascinating collection of scholarship will interest anyone looking to learn more about Francis Bacon, contemporary art, or the artistic imagination.

DIVThe Elizabethan sage offers wise, witty observations on truth, adversity, love, ambition, fame, and many other topics. Short but thought-provoking, these essays constitute an excellent combination of style and substance. /div

From distorted self-images to brutal portrayals of friends and fellow artists, the portraits of Francis Bacon account for one of the most remarkable aspects of the work of the British painter. This work looks at his stylistic distortions of classicism and his famous deformations. Milan Kundera provides an introduction explaining his personal response to Bacon's work, exploring the paradox that lies in the faithfulness of the distorted images, and linking Bacon's genius with that of Samuel Beckett, both working at the outer limits of their art. France Borel's essay sets Bacon's works in the context of his life and influences and explains his approach to portraiture.