ART
Francis Bacon Man and Beast Michael Peppiatt, Stephen F. Eisenman, Catherine Howe, Anna Testar, Isabella Boorman Francis Bacon is considered one of the most important painters of the 20th century. A major exhibition of his paintings at the Royal Academy of Arts in 2020 explores the role of animals in his work – not least the human animal. Having often painted dogs and horses, in 1969 Bacon first depicted bullfights. Twenty-two years later, a lone bull was to be the subject of his final painting. In this fascinating publication – a significant addition to the literature on Bacon – expert authors discuss Bacon’s approach to animals and identify his varied sources of inspiration, which included wildlife photography and the motion studies of Eadweard Muybridge. They contend that, by considering animals in states of vulnerability, anger and unease, Bacon was able to lay bare the role of instinctual behaviour in the human condition.
A major study of Francis Bacon’s paintings of animals, to accompany an exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts, London, 30 January to 18 April 2021.
Frank Bowling Updated and expanded edition Mel Gooding Over the past decade, Frank Bowling has enjoyed belated attention and celebration. This comprehensive monograph, published in 2011, is now available in an updated and expanded edition. Born in British Guiana in 1934, Bowling arrived in England in his late teens, going on to study at the Royal College of Art alongside David Hockney and Derek Boshier. By the early 1960s he was recognised as an original force in the vibrant London art scene. Dividing his time between New York and London since the late 1960s, he has developed a unique and virtuosic abstract style that combines aspects of American painterly abstraction with a treatment of light and space that consciously recollects the great English landscape painters Gainsborough, Turner and Constable. In a compelling text the art writer, critic and curator Mel Gooding hails Bowling as one of the finest British artists of his generation. 9781912520602 Royal Academy of Arts 280 x 240 mm. 192pp., 140 col. May 2021 £25.00, Hardback
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Frank Bowling, Iona Miriam’s Christmas Visit to and from Brighton, 2017. Acrylic on canvas, 185 x 122.5 cm
9781912520558 Royal Academy of Arts 280 x 240 mm. 196pp., 160 col. January 2021 £35.00, Hardback
A comprehensive survey of the work of Frank Bowling, considered one of the finest British painters of his generation.