October 20, 2008
Lucian Freud's portrait
of Francis Bacon sold today for rather less than expected. Bacon painted Freud many times.
The Tate has an interactive exhibition on Bacon. Here's some Freud to balance things a bit.
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Er, the interactive thing requires Flash.
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Thanks, Papa Pleg. In other art news today, an unknown Lawren Harris popped up.
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Ooh. I like the Lawren Harris. But I don't think I'll buy it.
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Bacon is one of the few modern artists whose work I've stood in front of genuinely captivated. I'm not particularly well-versed in painting or the arts in general, but he seems to achieve something particular to his medium that is very powerful.
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Bacon is bacon and eggs, daddio! The way he uses paint is amazing, and does make you stand there thinking 'wow, look at that, I wonder how he did it...' His dry-brush work is truly a thing to behold. I once met the art historian and Bacon expert David Sylvester, so I can say I've met a man who knew Francis Bacon. Who wants to touch me?
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*touches kit, never washes again* Bacon is one of those artists whose work I often don't like, but find absolutely transfixing. Captivating, like Abie says. The Screaming Pope gives me actual nightmares so I'm not going to link it. *shudder* (this is my fave Freud painting I think) Thanks for the post, pleg!
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That is a good one, moth: hard to dislike this well-known one either. Girls and dogs - a winning formula? What I think is interesting about the friendship of these two most eminent Brit artists is a shared obsession with flesh, expressed in different styles. You could say, couldn't you, that flesh was the abiding theme of Western painting from the Renaissance on. Which would put these two squarely in the canonical tradition? Ever thought of doing some nudes, kit? Maybe with a dog in a scarf No, really?
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Well I'm nude right now. Does that count? Well, they said today could be dress down day in the office...