From Publishers Weekly
Documenting the painter's London live/ work space as he left it, 7 Reece Mews: Francis Bacon's Studio lovingly takes stock of the late Irish artist's stacked canvases, crushed paint tubes, shelves of books, bust of Blake, on-the-wall color tests and stacks of assorted ephemera as he left them in 1992. Irish photographer Perry Ogden took the 60 carefully framed color photos here, and Bacon's companion John Edwards contributes an introductory essay. The studio has since been painstakingly packed up and shipped to Dublin's Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery of Modern Art. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
Book Description
One of the most powerful painters of our age, Francis Bacon lived and worked for the last thirty years of his life in a modest building in London's South Kensington. After he died in 1992, access was granted to award-winning photographer Perry Ogden to work undisturbed for days on end to produce this riveting record of the house and its contents. In the studio itself, thirty years of inspired artistic endeavor had accumulated unchecked: the slashed and discarded canvases scattered across the floor; the brushes, rags, and tins encrusted with paint; the doors and walls used as impromptu palettes; the piles of photographs of friends and models; the crumpled and torn pages of magazines and books that served as a stimulus for Bacon's work; the notes, sketches, and ideas for paintings jotted down and then cast aside; the last unfinished self-portrait on the easel. For some of those close to Bacon, the studio was a heroic statement, a work of art in its own right, secretly constructed over many years to distill and give form to his aesthetic intentions. Now in this astonishing book we are invited to take a privileged look around this private space, to become intimate witnesses to the amazing conditions in which Bacon lived and worked, to gain unrivaled insights into how, why, and what he painted. 60 color photographs.
7 Reece Mews: Francis Bacon's Studio FROM THE PUBLISHER
"Francis Bacon moved into 7 Reece Mews in London's South Kensington in 1961. It was to remain his principal home and studio until his death in 1992." "Prior to the removal of the studio to the Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery of Modern Art in Dublin in 1998, access was granted to photographer Perry Ogden to produce this record of the house and its contents. He captured every part of the small building's hidden and untouched interior. In the studio itself, thirty years of artistic endeavour had accumulated unchecked: the slashed, discarded canvases scattered across the floor; the brushes, rags and tins encrusted with paint; the doors and walls used as impromptu palettes; the piles of photographs of friends and models; the crumpled and torn pages of magazines and books that served as visual stimulus for his work; the notes, sketches and ideas jotted down and then cast aside; the last unfinished painting on the easel." "For some of those close to Bacon in his lifetime, the studio was an heroic statement, a work of art in its own right, created over many years to distil and give form to his aesthetic intentions. Now in this astonishing book we are invited to take a privileged look around his private space, to become intimate witnesses to the amazing conditions in which he lived and worked, to gain unrivalled insights into how, why and what he painted."--BOOK JACKET.
Art & Photography
Book Info
