Francis Bacon, Monaco and French culture is focus of exhibition at Grimaldi Forum

10 juillet 2016

Francis Bacon, Monaco and French culture is focus of exhibition at Grimaldi Forum

'Francis Bacon, Monaco and French Culture'. Photo JC Vinaj

MONACO.- The Grimaldi Forum, Monaco is presenting a major exhibition, Francis Bacon, Monaco and French Culture from 2 July to 4 September 2016. The exhibition, curated by Martin Harrison, editor of the forthcoming Francis Bacon Catalogue Raisonné (publication 30 June 2016), takes place with the support of The Estate of Francis Bacon in London, and the Francis Bacon MB Art Foundation based in Monaco.

Francis Bacon’s cultural orientation was, to an extraordinary degree, towards France, and The Grimaldi Forum exhibition explores the artist’s work from this unique angle: the important influence of French art and culture on Bacon’s work, and his years in Monaco that had a crucial impact on his oeuvre. Major triptychs as well as famous and less well-known paintings are being displayed thematically and show direct and indirect relationships to France and Monaco. One of the features of this exhibition is to cross-reference major works of the masters who inspired the artist.

The exhibition brings together more than sixty paintings by Bacon himself alongside works by leading artists who inspired him, including Toulouse-Lautrec, Picasso, Giacometti, Léger and Soutine. Major loans from public collections around the world include Head VI (1949) from the Arts Council England, the extraordinary Fragment of a Crucifixion (1950, Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven), and Pope I (1951, Aberdeen Art Gallery). There are also a number of works, many rarely if ever displayed, from private collections, including the triptych, Studies of the Human Body (1970), Turning Figure (1962), and Portrait of a Man Walking Down Steps (1972), Bacon’s most poignant tribute to George Dyer, painted shortly after his death.

Francis Bacon, Head VI, 1949. Oil on canvas, 93,2 x 76,5 cm. Arts Council Collec:on, Southbank Centre, London © The Estate of Francis Bacon. All rights.

The exhibition includes – for the first time – Francis Bacon’s first work, Watercolour (1929, Francis Bacon MB Art Foundation) and Bacon’s last painting, completed in 1991, the never-before-exhibited Study of a Bull.

Tate dedicated two retrospectives to the artist during his lifetime, in 1962 and 1985, but Francis Bacon regarded the retrospective at the Grand Palais in 1971 as the most significant of his career. Only Picasso had the similar honour of a retrospective held during his lifetime at the Grand Palais, in 1966.

Francis Bacon, Fragment of a Crucifixion, 1950. Oil and cowon wool on canvas, 158,4 x 127,4 cm. Collec:on Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven © The Estate of Francis Bacon. All rights.

Francis Bacon, Study of a Dog, 1952. Oil on canvas, 198,1 x 137,2 cm. Presented by Eric Hall 1952, Tate, London © Tate, London 2016.

Francis Bacon, Study for a Portrait of Van Gogh, 1957. Oil on canvas, 198,1 x 142,2 cm, Arts Council Collection, Southbank Centre, London © The Estate of Francis Bacon. All rights reserved, DACS 2016.

Francis Bacon, Portrait of Michel Leiris, 1976. Huile sur toile, 35,5 x 30,5 cm. Donation Louise et Michel Leiris, 1984. Centre Pompidou, Paris - Musée na:onal d'art moderne/Centre de création industrielle © The Estate of Francis Bacon. All rights reserved, DACS 2016.

Francis Bacon at Vaux-le-Vicomte in 1977. Copyright Eddy Batache

Francis Bacon in Nice in March 1979. Copyright Eddy Batache

Francis Bacon in Monaco in 1981. Copyright Eddy Batache

Francis Bacon and Reinhard Hassert in Monaco in 1981. Copyright Eddy Batache

Installation view. Photo JC Vinaj

Posté par Alain Truong à 16:26 - Commentaires […] - Permalien [#]

Tags: 1950, 1953, 1972, Francis Bacon, 1970, 1976, 1991, 1929, 1949, 'Fragment of a Crucifixion', 'Head VI', 'Watercolour', 'Study of a Dog', 'Sea', "1952, "Study of a Bull", "Portrait of Michel Leiris", "Portrait of a Man Walking Down Steps", "Studies of the Human Body"

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