New publication reveals never-before-seen images of changes Bacon made to his paintings
Left: Original version
Right: Final version
Revisions, a new publication by DACS member the Estate of Francis Bacon, unveils a previously unseen archive of images documenting changes the artist made to his paintings. Here the estate offers a glimpse into the evolution of Bacon’s creative process, shedding new light on his approach to modern art.
Of his paintings, Francis Bacon once said:
... it would be interesting to photograph those things all the time so that you'd be able to see what you'd lost and what you've gained.
Bacon's works often lost and gained a great deal after leaving his studio, as he frequently found ways to alter, improve, or destroy his paintings, even as they hung on the walls of gallerists and collectors.
From the sudden absence of a cigarette in Study of a Portrait of a Man (1967), to the removal of Richard Chopping's central figure in the centre panel of Triptych 1974-77, Bacon's revisions vary dramatically in scale and intention. Diptychs become triptychs, seemingly important details disappear without ceremony, and figures travel between works like ghosts.
Bacon was known to be very guarded with his artistic process - with even his portrait subjects very rarely observing him at work. The secrecy that cloaked the formulation of his paintings has fuelled plenty of speculation, much of it wide of the mark.
While we may never know how many works were obliterated before they saw the light of day, records of his associates show that Bacon revised at least one-sixth of the 584 surviving paintings previously released as completed works.
Early versions of his work tell an intriguing story of the structure of his paintings. Leading Bacon scholar, Martin Harrison provides commentary on an extensive mix of photographs, notes and sketches to show how Bacon’s methods evolved over time. Although there is a risk of implying they follow a precise pattern, the revisions he made are instructive because they indicate a boundary in the aesthetics; given Bacon never wrote about his art and only spoke about it in vague terms, the edits to his paintings might be considered his most pertinent commentary on their quality.
Bacon’s revisions could be a dramatic change of ground colour from blue-black to pink or the faintest whisper of a new white brushstroke. The addition of pink or red aerosol paint to give flesh the appearance of meat or sections of the face voided in self-portraits. From works suddenly and shockingly cropped, to those altogether obliterated, archivist Sophie Pretorius details evidence for Bacon’s process for additions, subtractions and exchanges in his paintings – including the rare but undeniable instances where he made revisions to his work based on the criticism of others.
Conceived as an accompanying text to Francis Bacon: Catalogue Raissoné (2016), you can find out more about the publication here.
Read more
- Browse Francis Bacon’s work on Artimage, DACS’ digital platform dedicated to licensing modern and contemporary art
- How to license an image with DACS
