When this book was first published, several years ago, it was received as a unique contribution to the literature of contemporary art. Stephen Spender argued in a leading article in the Times Literary Supplement that it 'may influence the painting of the last quarter of our century as much as the critical writings of Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot influenced poetry in the '20s and '30s.'
Graham Greene, who chose it as the book of the year, wrote in the Observer: '... An exciting document that can be considered analogous to the Journals of Delacroix and the letters of Gauguin.' Michel Leiris noted: 'Bacon's work bears the traces of his actions, just as human flesh bears the wounds of an accident or an attack.'
These incredibly revealing interviews of artist Francis Bacon with renowned art critic David Sylvester took place from 1962 to 1986. Within them lies a unique testimony from Bacon about his art and art in general.
With a rare and sparkling use of language, Bacon discusses his goals as a painter, the way he works, his life, responding with enthusiasm and sincerity to Sylvester's probing questions. Bacon's obsessive effort to recreate the human form, his work on pieces by old masters and on photographs, his reliance on chance, and his views on the ways in which his work has been interpreted are some of the topics that were discussed and explored in depth during these encounters.
The interviews have been creatively re-edited from the original recordings. The result is an achievement in the art of montage: a book that is distinguished not only for its coherence and uniqueness but simultaneously maintains the interest, freshness, and atmosphere of the discussion between two people of similar intellectual caliber, whose differing sensibilities are allowed to develop freely.
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