Francis Bacon (painter/photographer)

[jtk]

https://hyperallergic.com/534981/the-unsparing-pages-of-francis-bacon/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=W123119&utm_content=W123119+CID_64ab11e11314496f7ba49969ebbd62da&utm_source=HyperallergicNewsletter&utm_term=The Unsparing Pages of Francis Bacon

 

[jtk]

Bacon by Bill Brandt

 

[Pieter12]

Bacon is one of my all-time favorite painters. I am unaware that he did any photography. His studio was famously chaotic.

 

[jtk]

There's also Lucian Freud's portrait of Bacon (an etching):

 

[Pieter12]

Don't forget Avedon.

 

[chris77]

great thread.
just saw bacon in centre pompidou, paris.
i love his portrait work work and his intense way of looking through appearances.
happy new year
chris

 

[awty]

Bacon is one of my all-time favorite painters. I am unaware that he did any photography. His studio was famously chaotic.

View attachment 237223

Looks like my darkroom.

 

[Arklatexian]

Bacon is one of my all-time favorite painters. I am unaware that he did any photography. His studio was famously chaotic.

View attachment 237223

Ahhhh! A studio that looks like my darkroom! A place for everything and everything in its place. How inspiring?........Regards!

 

[jtk]

Happy New Year...

 

[Pieter12]

Despite the title of this thread, I have yet to find any evidence that Francis Bacon did any photography. He was influenced by photography and worked from photographs (never life), but I haven't read anything about him actually taking pictures.

 

[Charles Escott-New]

Many believe Bacon to be the pre-eminent English painter of the 20th century, although my vote goes to Freud. As has been said, he worked from photographs, starting early with his fascination for the work of Eadweard Muybridge. You can see clearly the link between the nude athletes and Bacon,s erotic paintings of homosexual love. Many of his most famous portraits, of Freud, Moraes, George Dyer, were based on photographs taken by his friend, if that word can ever be applied to him, John Deakin. They drank Soho dry, were destructive in their habits but produced great art. In that untidy studio Bacon kept piles of Deakin,s prints, many torn, under his bed. He called these his memory traces. Many will have seen the wonderful Deakin photo of Bacon stripped to the waist in a sandwich of hanging meat. New Years greetings to all, Charles.

 

[jtk]

Despite the title of this thread, I have yet to find any evidence that Francis Bacon did any photography. He was influenced by photography and worked from photographs (never life), but I haven't read anything about him actually taking pictures.

View attachment 237462

Photography only incidentally involves making "photographs".

 

[removed account4]

only 135million ?

 

[Pieter12]

Photography only incidentally involves making "photographs".

Explain.

 

[jtk]

Explain.

For many on Photrio, "photography" mostly means camera ownership...

 

[removed account4]

For many on Photrio, "photography" mostly means camera ownership...

he used xrays sometimes to aid with his drawings, is that what you mean ?

 

[Pieter12]

he used xrays sometimes to aid with his drawings, is that what you mean ?

As far as I know, he did not make any of the photos that he used for his paintings I doubt he even owned or knew how to use a camera. Mostly he worked from scrap: newspaper, magazine and book clippings and photos taken by others at his request, mostly by John Deakin.

So even by the "Photrio" definition, he was not a photographer.

 

[awty]

Its impossible to fully appreciate a painting without seeing it person. I dont believe I have seen any of Bacon's works, but if they make it to the local gallery I will be keen to take a look.
Bacon turns photographs into pictures. I would much prefer to make pictures than photographs.

 

[removed account4]

As far as I know, he did not make any of the photos that he used for his paintings I doubt he even owned or knew how to use a camera. Mostly he worked from scrap: newspaper, magazine and book clippings and photos taken by others at his request, mostly by John Deakin.

So even by the "Photrio" definition, he was not a photographer.

i see what you mean .. i hope the OP will clarify what he means by suggesting mr bacon was a photographer.

 

[jtk]

For many on Photrio, "photography" mostly means camera ownership...

In other words, "meaning" of a word is not essence of a word. Neither Webster nor Oxford restrict themselves to absolutes.

Some anxiously deny that videographers are "photographers" ....but titles often credit them as "photographers." Some exhibitors in photo galleries restrict themselves to photolab trash and magazine cut-outs.

 

[Pieter12]

And this makes Francis Bacon a photographer by using photos as the basis for his paintings? Because light is involved? Because of circular BS?

 

[removed account4]

In other words, "meaning" of a word is not essence of a word. Neither Webster nor Oxford restrict themselves to absolutes.

Some anxiously deny that videographers are "photographers" ....but titles often credit them as "photographers." Some exhibitors in photo galleries restrict themselves to photolab trash and magazine cut-outs.

I have no idea how this makes Francis Bacon a photographer, because he was photographed ?

 

[faberryman]

And this makes Francis Bacon a photographer by using photos as the basis for his paintings?

Only if they are analog photographs.

 

[jtk]

If you pursue this topic further you will learn that he actually made photographs (as did almost every one of his associates). But ignorance remains bliss in some little world's.

 

[Pieter12]

Source, please.