Francis Bacon: In Coversation with Michel Archimbaud
Category: Books,Arts & Photography,History & Criticism
Francis Bacon: In Coversation with Michel Archimbaud Details
From the Back Cover Francis Bacon, a self-taught painter, became one of the greatest artists of the twentieth century. Here he speaks openly to his close friend Michel Archimbaud who sets out to discover the man behind the paintings. His searching questions shed a new light on Bacon's work in spite of his claim that he finds it impossible to talk about his painting. He talks candidly about his childhood, his relationship with his father, his friends and the influences which have shaped his art. The discussion is wide-ranging, touching on painting, literature and music. The interviews are punctuated with Bacon's revealing and sometimes disparaging remarks about a whole host of artists including amongst others Rubens, Blake, Monet, Cezanne, Picasso, Balthus, Giacometti, Shakespeare, Baudelaire, Wagner, Debussy and Schonberg. These interviews, conducted in French, took place in Bacon's studio between October 1991 and April 1992. They were to continue in Paris following Bacon's trip to Madrid, but he died in Madrid on 28 April 1992. As such these conversations can be seen as his last recorded thoughts. Read more
Reviews
This selection of interviews has many good things about it. It spends a lot of time asking about the relationship between music and painting. Not through the natural flow of the interview but instead at the initiative of Archiumbaud. To do this is to move off the track of the main point which is the painting of Francis Bacon.I doubt that anyone hears music when they look at Bacon's work. The other book of interviews is better but this one is still well worth reading.
