After the success of Warhol and Dali, the third book of this winning series focuses on Francis Bacon, the 'accursed' Dubliner
His works continue to produce the same effect today, having the capacity to move us, yet without our understanding exactly why. They convey the profound meaning of the human being, the ‘poor, bare, forked animal’ referred to in King Lear.
It’s a well-known fact that he had a certain appeal in the eyes of the people he met.
His appearance, his language and his actions were very different from those of ordinary folk.
The unknown side of Bacon is revealed. When he was 16, for example, his father caught him trying on his mother’s underpants and banished him from the house. A story of humiliation and rejection which seems to have left the young Francis with a deep sense of guilt and emargination, and which also convinced him of the absurdity of bourgeois life, with its conventions and hypocrisy.
Bacon maintained this opinion throughout his life. He regarded duchesses, soldiers, priests and, indeed, himself as actors in a sort of drama which we call civilized society.
With the style typical of the series, the text, drawings and reproductions of Bacon’s works offer an essential, accurate and undoubtedly brilliant overview of the life and work of this great artist.