Short description
Francis Bacon is Deleuze's long-awaited work on Bacon, widely regarded as the one of the most radical painters of the twentieth century. The book presents a deep engagement with Bacon's work and the nature of art.
Long description
Francis Bacon is Deleuze's long-awaited work on Bacon, widely regarded as the one of the most radical painters of the twentieth century. The book presents a deep engagement with Bacon's work and the nature of art. Deleuze analyses the distinctive innovations that came to mark Bacon's style while introducing a number of his own famous concepts. Deleuze links Bacon's work to Cezanne's notion of a 'logic' of sensation, which reaches its summit in colour. Investigating this logic, Deleuze explores Bacon's crucial relation to past painters such as Velasquez, Cezanne, and Soutine, as well as Bacon's rejection of expressionism and abstract painting. Translated by Daniel W. Smith
Review
'A lively and systematic study of Bacon's work. The book is clearly organised, helping to make complicated arguments easier to follow'. Modern Painters; 'an entertaining read' Art Monthly; 'A path breaking work on the aesthetics of sensation, the philosophy of colour, on form, and on painting in general, Francis Bacon is one of the most important, if not the most crucial, of all of Deleuze's writings.' Tom Conley, Harvard University
Table of contents
- Translator's Preface, by Daniel W. Smith
- Preface to the French Edition, by Alain Badiou and Barbara Cassin Foreword
- Author's Preface to the English Edition
- 1. The Round Area, the Ring
- 2. Note on Figuration in Past Painting
- 3. Athleticism
- 4. Body, Meat, and Spirit: Becoming-Animal
- 5. Recapitulative Note: Bacon's Periods and Aspects
- 6. Painting and Sensation
- 7. Hysteria
- 8. Painting Forces
- 9. Couples and Triptychs
- 10. Note: What is a Triptych? 11. The Painting Before Painting...
- 12. The Diagram
- 13. Analogy
- 14. Every Painter Recapitulates the History of Painting in His or Her Own Way...
- 15. Bacon's Path
- 16. Note on Color
- 17. The Eye and the Hand
- Index of Paintings
- Notes
- Index