Francis Bacon and the Tradition of Art

Francis Bacon and the Tradition of Art. 2003 massive hardcover. 371 pages, very nice condition.

This exhibition catalogue is not a retrospective but rather an examination for the first time of the artist's work within a network of relationships and influences from the Old Masters to the artists of the twentieth century. The eminent English painter Francis Bacon (19091992) is known for his brutal, haunting and grotesque portraits of man and beast. In this eye-opening study, Bacon stands besides artists like Velazquez, Rembrandt, Titian, Ingres, Degas, Schiele, and Van Gogh - his real sources. To support this thesis, the text draws connections between Bacon and his predecessors according to themes: Bacon's papal portraits, the Motif of the Scream, Bacon and Surrealism, Mirrors and Reflections, the Cage Motif. This sumptuously illustrated book offers a study of a modernist's work in relation to the masterpieces of art history.