Francis Bacon's Studio

Francis Bacon's Studio by Cappock, Margarita. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9781858942766.

Francis Bacon (1909-1992) is widely regarded as one of the most significant post-war painters. From 1961, his studio at 7 Reece Mews, South Kensington, London, was both his home and his workplace, and, over time, the repository of thousands of items that were central to his art, the impetus for many of his most important paintings. The studio - with its extraordinarily rich contents untouched since Bacons death - was donated in 1998 by John Edwards to Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane, where, after meticulous dismantling and reconstruction by archaeologists, conservators and curators, it is now on permanent display. The studios deconstruction revealed some 7500 objects, among them numerous well-thumbed, folded and torn photographs, many depicting Bacons friends and lovers; illustrated publications, including books and magazine articles on subjects as diverse as medicine, sport, wildlife and war; drawings, interventions and handwritten notes by Bacon; slashed canvases and his final, unfinished work; and a welter of artists materials - the walls themselves are vivid with encrusted paint, mixed and tested by Bacon. In Francis Bacons Studio, Margarita Cappock provides the first in-depth study of the studio, selecting key elements from the dense mass of objects Bacon accumulated and placing them succinctly within the context of the artists life and practice. Profusely illustrated with unique material that has never previously been published, Francis Bacons Studio makes an important contribution to Bacon studies, especially in relation to the last three decades of the artists career. Drawing on artefacts that resonate with the energy of Bacons work, this book offers unprecedented insights into the sources, inspiration and working methods of one of the giants of modern art.