Looking Back at Francis Bacon by David Sylvester

Controversial in both life and art, Francis Bacon was one of the most important painters of the 20th century. His monumental, unsettling images have an extraordinary power to disturb, shock and haunt the spectator, `to unlock the valves of feeling and therefore return the onlooker to life more violently'.
 
Drawing on his personal knowledge of Bacon's inspirations, intentions and working methods, David Sylvester surveys the development of the work from 1933 to the early 1990s, and discusses critically a number of its crucial aspects.
 
He also reproduces previously unpublished extracts from his celebrated conversations with Bacon in which the artist speaks about himself, modern painters and the art of the past. Finally, Sylvester gives a brief account of Bacon's life, correcting certain errors that elsewhere have been presented as facts. Divided into the sections `Review', `Reflections', `Fragments of Talk' and `Biographical Note', Looking Back on Francis Bacon is a unique portrait of one of the creative geniuses of our age by a writer of comparable distinction.
 
In good condition, inscribed Bernard Mayo 29.8.01 on the inside cover. Dust cover present.
 
First edtion, published in 2000 by Thames and Hudson.
 
272 pages, 230 illustrations, 84 in colour including 12 triptych fold outs.
 
ISBN 0 500 01994 0