Francis Bacon (1909-1992), Portrait of Michel Leiris. Photo by courtesy of Christie's

etching and aquatint in colours, 1978, on Arches paper, signed in pencil, numbered V/XLVI (there were also 100 numbered in Arabic numerals), published by Georges Visat, Paris, with his blindstamp, the full sheet, printed on a folded sheet as issued, with text at right, in good condition. Image: 300 x 250 mm. Paper: 674 x 520 mm. Estimate: GBP 10,000.00 - 15,000.00

Literature: Bruno Sabatier, Francis Bacon: The Graphic Work, no. 2.

Notes: Portrait of Michel Leiris was made for the book Requiem pour la Fin des Temps, with text by Eddie Batache.

‘The living quality is what you have to get. In painting a portrait the problem is to find a technique by which you can give over all the pulsations of a person. The sitter is someone of flesh and blood and what has to be caught is their emanation’ – David Sylvester, Interviews with Francis Bacon, London , 1993, p. 105 

Christie's. ONLINE AUCTIONS – FRANCIS BACON: THE COMPLETE PRINTS