Francis Bacon
dal 28/10/2009 al 6/3/2010
Segnalato da
28/10/2009
Francis Bacon
Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane, Dublin
A Terrible Beauty: selected paintings dating from 1944 to 1989, drawings, photographs, unfinished works and slashed canvases. The focus is on new material from the archive which illuminates the methods and motives behind the work of one of the principal artists of the 20th century and offers us a new understanding of his work and artistic practice. The exhibition celebrates the centenary of Bacon's birth in 63, Lower Baggot Street, Dublin.
The exhibition is curated by Barbara Dawson and Martin Harrison.
Francis Bacon: A Terrible Beauty celebrates the centenary of Francis Bacon's birth in 63, Lower Baggot Street, Dublin. This exhibition comprising paintings, drawings, photographs, unfinished works and slashed canvases will offer the viewer an astonishing new look at Francis Bacon, the great figurative painter of the 20th century. It will provide an opportunity to reappraise his oeuvre through the selected paintings, several of which haven’t been on public exhibition for many years. The mastery of Francis Bacon is revealed through these works and will be fully supported by an extensive and previously unseen selection of items from Bacon’s Studio.
Following on the donation of the Studio to the Hugh Lane by John Edwards in 1998, the 7,000 plus items retrieved from the studio were archived by The Hugh Lane. Francis Bacon’s Studio has been on permanent exhibition at Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane since 2001. It is acknowledged as one of the most pioneering and successful realisations of preserving and displaying an artist’s studio and contents. The database is unprecedented, documenting every item retrieved, thus providing fascinating insights into Bacon’s working processes.
The exhibition is co-curated by Barbara Dawson and Martin Harrison. It is accompanied by a richly illustrated catalogue that presents important new research on the artist. Published by Steidl on the occasion of the exhibition, it includes essays by the co-curators, Barbara Dawson and Martin Harrison, along with texts by Rebecca Daniels, Marcel Finke, Jessica O'Donnell, Joanna Shepard, and Logan Sisley.
Francis Bacon: A Terrible Beauty is one of the major European cultural events of 2009. The exhibition will tour to Compton Verney, Warwickshire, England, in 2010.
Sunday 1st November 2009, 1.30pm
Public Lecture: Francis Bacon A Terrible Beauty
Lecturer: Director and Co-Curator, Barbara Dawson
This lecture is the first in a series of vibrant lectures that will illuminate this extraordinary exhibition and will give the opportunity to debate and explore issues raised by the exhibition and the accompanying catalogue.
In today's lecture Barbara Dawson, the Gallery Director and Co-Curator will discuss the Gallery's acquisition of Bacon's studio and the background to the current exhibition.
Sunday 15th November 2009, 1.30pm
Public Lecture: “A Game of Chance: The Media and Techniques of Francis Bacon”
Lecturer: Head of Conservation, Joanna Shepard
Francis Bacon was a self-taught painter who created a range of astonishing effects with his materials. He created a personal mystique centring on claims that his paintings came about almost entirely by chance. Head of Conservation, Joanna Shepard, presents important new research that contradicts these claims and reveals some remarkable discoveries about Bacon’s practice.
Image: B&W photograph (torn fragment) of Francis Bacon by John Deakin. © The Estate of Francis Bacon. Collection Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane.
For further information please contact: Dairne O'Sullivan, Press and Marketing Manager Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane tel +353 1 2225568, e-mail dairne.osullivan@dublincity.ie
Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane
Parnell Square, Dublin 1, Ireland
Opening Hours
Tuesday to Thursday 10.00am– 6.00pm
Friday & Saturday 10.00am–5.00pm
Sunday 11.00am–5.00pm
Closed Mondays
The gallery will be closed over the Christmas period on 24th, 25th, 26th and 27th December 2008.
Admission to the Gallery is free