Francis Bacon 1902-1992 Triptych May-June (1973)

Triptych May-June 1973



Background Information:

Born in Dublin, Ireland on the 28th October 1902, Francis Bacon was the second of five children born to Winifred and Edward Anthony Mortimer Bacon.
Edward Bacon often claimed to be a collateral descendant of ‘Sir Francis Bacon,’ the Elizabethan philosopher, a statement with which his son often contested. -In fact, after his death, Bacon remembered his father as:

“ A highly strung, intolerant, dictatorial and censorious character - much given to moralising and disposed toward arguments that end in lasting discord. ”
-Francis Bacon

Noticeably the pair did not enjoy an amicable relationship. Bacon’s father was fiercely apposed to his son’s flagrant displays of his homosexuality, -though one must contextualize before passing judgement:

During the most-part of Bacon’s lifetime same-sex relationships were frowned upon -and in some places, punishable by death.

Bacon’s life has often been described figuratively as the epitome of a paradox:
-His work was conventional, but iconoclastic (it challenged tradition): He worked on canvas, but favoured the rough and un-treated back-side to the smooth painter-friendly front.
-His life was tragic, yet romantic: He saw a succession of soul-mates; muses and lovers; all but one culminating in explosive annulment, from this he grimly took solace in the inspired work he could produce both during, and post-relationship.

During his life time Bacon enjoyed the privilege of a very shrouded private life. His work was so famous and highly regarded that he took on an un-touchable public image; his ‘people’ were somehow able to insure no controversial or scathing reviews of his work ever surfaced. It is only post 1992 (Bacon’s death) that any negative readings of his work have emerged.
The most interesting, and perhaps the source of my fascination for the piece I will be reviewing was fuelled by a very tragic story, and by perhaps, the only true love Bacon ever experienced; That with George Dyer:

George Dyer [Pictured Left as Bacon saw him]

The story of Bacon’s greatest muse and the main cause of his utmost bitterness and guilt for the greater part of his life always begins with his stumbling upon the knowledge of his lover, George Dyer’s suicide.

He was found sitting on the lavatory with blood coming from his nose and mouth, having swallowed fistfuls of sleeping pills in a Paris hotel room in 1971.

Perhaps a macabre manner in which to begin a story, but in my opinion it is important that the ending of the relationship plays on the reader’s mind whilst contemplating the beginning.

Dyer was a small-time criminal when he met Bacon, and the artist delighted in telling the story of their first meeting. As he told it, Dyer was at work, breaking into Bacon’s studio not realizing the artist was in residence and asleep.
Bacon claims that upon hearing a small thud, he woke up, saw the burglar and immediately said:

“Take off all your clothes and get into bed with me. Then you can have all you want.”
-Bacon

Less imaginatively, and perhaps boasting a greater degree of truth, Bacon also said they met when he was drinking in a Soho pub where Dyer came over saying:

“You look like you’re having a good time. Can I buy you a drink?"
- Dyer

In reality Dyer was a drifter with a speech impediment, he was withdrawn and often sullen; terribly unsure of himself and before he actually killed himself, he had attempted suicide at least twice before.
Despite this he was the subject of some of Bacon’s greatest work. Bacon could not get enough of Dyer onto canvas; though this lead the relationship between master and muse to become a destructive one. The pair suffered a Love/Hate relationship fuelled by Bacon’s obsession with capturing “the element of Dyer”.
Bacon tried to distance himself from the relationship to heal their bond by buying Dyer a cottage in Kent to keep the two apart.

However, no amount of physical distance could destroy their symbolic attachment.
After trying countless times to rectify their relationship Bacon took Dyer to Paris in 1971 for a huge retrospective, and a sorting out their relationship in the Grand Palais. Here bacon put on what was to become the most significant show to-date in his career as an artist.

Upon returning to the hotel that night after the show on the 24th October 1971 Bacon was greeted by a flood of police, ambulances and coroners.
Bacon was told of his lover’s suicide by the concierge (the doorman) and showed not emotion. He simply replied,

“Eh bien, and where’s the body?”

-Bacon

Triptych May-June 1973, Francis Bacon

[The word triptych arises from early Christian art, it is a Greek word simply meaning ‘Three’; however ‘Triptych’ has a far more particular translation in terms of art: traditionally a triptych is a painting or carving which extends across three panels joined together with hinges.]

Relating to the above, Bacon has already, (perhaps intentionally) set up a paradox by entitling his three-canvas set ‘Triptych‘, they are not hinged, nor do they bare any continual setting or scene, instead they depict an inverted representation of the tragic death of his only true lover, George Dyer.
-The paintings should be read from right to left, again challenging the tradition of triptychs.

These pieces, unlike every painting preceding them, are not direct observational studies; they were executed by Bacon two years after his lover, George Dyer’s suicide. They appear to show Bacon’s feelings towards the events and are the first sign of his emotions after the event. As we now know, Dyer committed suicide by overdose and was found sitting, dead, on a lavatory -in an hotel in Paris. The only evidence of death being the presence of blood having poured from his mouth and nose, as his body shut down from the overdose on sleeping pills.

In fact the images depict the facts of Dyer’s death in reverse chronological order (right to left), as the nude figure vomits into the bathroom sink, then crosses the room, and the dies on the toilet.

The first picture shows the arm held at an acute angle and the sinus of this are continued by the sink adding to the movement in the image, we can almost see the desperation in Dyer’s vomiting.
Then as he crosses the room we see the shadow continued out of the door in a shape that mimics the grim reaper, a representation symbolic of his imminent death.

Finally, in the last image the figure’s head and shoulders have fallen forward to in-between his knees, and there is evidence that Bacon has acknowledged the bleeding, with the red paint.

The images would have been painted in Oil Paints, and fine brush-strokes [unlike many of his pre-dating works] are used showing the sensitivity and care Bacon took whilst painting the Triptych.
These are very serious paintings that Bacon is using as an outlet for his grief.


BIBLIOGRAPHY:


(My Own Knowledge)


INTERNET:

Author: Launa Marsh
Date: 16/09/06
Date Link was last proved active: 26/01/09
URL: http://www.alexalienart.com/Bacon%20News%20&%20Links.htm


Author: Emmanuell Cooper
Date: UNKNOWN
Date Link was last proved active: 26/01/09
URL:http://www.queer-arts.org/bacon/bacon.html


Author: UNKNOWN
Date: UNKNOWN
Date Link was last proved active: 26/01/09
URL: http://www.notablebiographies.com/Ba-Be/Bacon-Francis.html


BOOKS [Own Collection]:


Author: Rudy Chiapini
Title: Bacon
Date published: 09/08
Publisher: Powell's


Author: Luigi Ficacci
Title: Francis Bacon 1909-1992 (Taschen Basic Art)
Date Published: 11/03
Publisher: Taschen


Author: David Sylvester
Title: Interviews With Francis Bacon: The Bruitality of fact
Date Published: 02/88
Publisher: Thames and Hudson