This landmark publishing event presents the entire oeuvre of Bacon’s paintings for the first time in a deluxe five-volume boxed set
Editor Martin Harrison, following his appointment by the Estate of Francis Bacon, has devoted over a decade to the creation of this magnificent publication, the first-ever complete catalogue raisonné of the work of the great British painter. Including many previously unpublished paintings, this five-volume set allows Bacon’s oeuvre to be seen and assessed in its entirety for the first time, with all works reproduced in full color. The only previous Bacon catalogue raisonné was published in 1964, gathering only 37% of Bacon’s ultimate oeuvre, and featuring only 27 color reproductions. Only about half of the 584 paintings that survive are accessible to the public in exhibitions and publications; with Francis Bacon: Catalogue Raisonné, the painter’s entire oeuvre can be seen and assessed for the first time.
The catalogue, containing around 800 illustrations across five clothbound, hardcover volumes, includes three books comprising the study of Bacon’s entire working history, which are bookended by two further volumes: the first including an introduction, chronology and an indispensible index and users’ guide, and the second a catalogue of Bacon’s sketches with an illustrated bibliography. Beautifully produced and printed, the five volumes of Francis Bacon: Catalogue Raisonné are boxed within a handsome cloth slipcase.
“Francis Bacon (1909–92) is widely regarded as Britain’s greatest modern painter. Drawing on low-art sources, including photographs torn from magazines and imagery from films, coupled with a keen awareness of the rich historical tradition of painting stretching back to the Renaissance, Bacon developed a way of portraying the human body which was unique. His mastery of the medium of paint was recognized early. By 1946, the critic Kenneth Clark felt able to state simply: ‘Francis Bacon has genius’.” ––Francis Bacon (Tate Publishing, 2008)
Since 1970, Martin Harrison has published on 19th and 20th century art and photography and curated exhibitions in the UK (Victoria & Albert Museum; National Portrait Gallery; Ashmolean Museum), Italy, the USA and Mexico. He co-curated the Bacon exhibition at the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Dusseldorf in 2006, and Francis Bacon / Henry Moore: Flesh and Bone, The Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 2013. His first publication on Francis Bacon was Points of Reference (Faggionato Fine Art, 1999), while other publications on the subject include In Camera: Francis Bacon – Photography, Film and the Practice of Painting, (Thames & Hudson, 2005) and Francis Bacon: Incunabula, with Rebecca Daniels, (Thames & Hudson, 2008). In 2009 he edited Francis Bacon – New Studies: Centenary Essays, a collection of nine original essays to celebrate the centenary of the birth of the artist.
Featured image is reproduced from Francis Bacon: Catalogue Raisonné.
PRAISE AND REVIEWS
The Guardian
Mark Brown
For the first time, Bacon’s entire output can be seen and assessed.
WSJ Magazine
Martin Gayford
The opus is so substantial in stature—five clothbound volumes, comprising 1,538 pages, in a stand-alone slipcase—as to qualify as an art objet itself.
Artnet
Lorena Muñoz-Alonso
The catalog is a staggering tour de force a decade in the making… The importance of, and the need for, this catalog and how it will influence our understanding of Bacon’s oeuvre can’t be overstated.
ArtNet News
Cait Munro
The first comprehensive catalog of [Bacon's] oeuvre.
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If "art is like a love affair with objects, images, appearances, sensations, the passions," as painter Francis Bacon said in 1971, then Martin Harrison's magnificent, five-volume Francis Bacon Catalogue Raisonné is the defining record of one of the most incendiary love affairs of all time. Published by the Estate of Francis Bacon, this comprehensive, landmark publication has been in production for a decade, and contains more than 100 previously unseen paintings. Many of these—including the very first in the Screaming Pope series—were recently discovered in a private Italian collection, and have never been published before. continue to blog
Jet of Water (1979) is the second of Francis Bacon's late landscapes. From the mid-70s onwards, Bacon's aim, according to Martin Harrison, author of the stupendous new Francis Bacon: Catalogue Raisonné, was to pare his paintings "down to their essence—to convey, as he said in one of his frequently-quoted formulations, 'the sensation without the boredom of its conveyance.' Jet of Water is among the most impeccable and assured manifestations of 'abbreviation' in his paintings." Read more on artbook.com and in the Wall Street Journal. continue to blog
"Landscape near Malabata, Tangier" (1963) is reproduced from the Francis Bacon: Catalogue Raisonné, published by the Estate of Francis Bacon. Author Martin Harrison writes, "The creature in the foreground resembles, in its kinetic rush, the mechanical hare at a greyhound track. It may be pertinent that Bacon frequently attended greyhound races at this time, gambling on the dogs at another aimlessly circular arena." The Catalogue Raisonné is reviewed this week in The Wall Street Journal, where Martin Gayford writes, "The opus is so substantial in stature—five clothbound volumes, comprising 1,538 pages, in a stand-alone slipcase—as to qualify as an art objet itself." Read more here. continue to blog
"Study After Velázquez" (1950) is reproduced from Martin Harrison's remarkable 1556-page, five-volume "canon-scrambling" Francis Bacon: Catalogue Raisonné, released this week from the Estate of Francis Bacon. This painting was one of three Screaming Popes that Bacon painted together, then withheld from exhibition. Bacon destroyed one of the three paintings himself, and apparently ordered the other two to be destroyed by his framer, who secretly did not comply. Noted curator and critic David Sylvester recalled that "Bacon more than once 'greatly regretted' the destruction of this painting, which, on the basis of a 1950 photograph, Sylvester suspected was Bacon's 'finest Pope ever.'" continue to blog
FORMAT: Hbk, 5 vols, 9.5 x 12.25 in. / 1,556 pgs / 800 color. LIST PRICE: U.S. $1,500.00 LIST PRICE: CANADA $1985 ISBN: 9780956927316 PUBLISHER: The Estate of Francis Bacon AVAILABLE: 6/28/2016 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: SDNR40 PUBLISHING STATUS: Active AVAILABILITY: In stock TERRITORY: NA LA
Published by The Estate of Francis Bacon. Edited by Martin Harrison.
This landmark publishing event presents the entire oeuvre of Bacon’s paintings for the first time in a deluxe five-volume boxed set
Editor Martin Harrison, following his appointment by the Estate of Francis Bacon, has devoted over a decade to the creation of this magnificent publication, the first-ever complete catalogue raisonné of the work of the great British painter. Including many previously unpublished paintings, this five-volume set allows Bacon’s oeuvre to be seen and assessed in its entirety for the first time, with all works reproduced in full color. The only previous Bacon catalogue raisonné was published in 1964, gathering only 37% of Bacon’s ultimate oeuvre, and featuring only 27 color reproductions. Only about half of the 584 paintings that survive are accessible to the public in exhibitions and publications; with Francis Bacon: Catalogue Raisonné, the painter’s entire oeuvre can be seen and assessed for the first time.
The catalogue, containing around 800 illustrations across five clothbound, hardcover volumes, includes three books comprising the study of Bacon’s entire working history, which are bookended by two further volumes: the first including an introduction, chronology and an indispensible index and users’ guide, and the second a catalogue of Bacon’s sketches with an illustrated bibliography. Beautifully produced and printed, the five volumes of Francis Bacon: Catalogue Raisonné are boxed within a handsome cloth slipcase.
“Francis Bacon (1909–92) is widely regarded as Britain’s greatest modern painter. Drawing on low-art sources, including photographs torn from magazines and imagery from films, coupled with a keen awareness of the rich historical tradition of painting stretching back to the Renaissance, Bacon developed a way of portraying the human body which was unique. His mastery of the medium of paint was recognized early. By 1946, the critic Kenneth Clark felt able to state simply: ‘Francis Bacon has genius’.” ––Francis Bacon (Tate Publishing, 2008)
Since 1970, Martin Harrison has published on 19th and 20th century art and photography and curated exhibitions in the UK (Victoria & Albert Museum; National Portrait Gallery; Ashmolean Museum), Italy, the USA and Mexico. He co-curated the Bacon exhibition at the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Dusseldorf in 2006, and Francis Bacon / Henry Moore: Flesh and Bone, The Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 2013. His first publication on Francis Bacon was Points of Reference (Faggionato Fine Art, 1999), while other publications on the subject include In Camera: Francis Bacon – Photography, Film and the Practice of Painting, (Thames & Hudson, 2005) and Francis Bacon: Incunabula, with Rebecca Daniels, (Thames & Hudson, 2008). In 2009 he edited Francis Bacon – New Studies: Centenary Essays, a collection of nine original essays to celebrate the centenary of the birth of the artist.
