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The hanging tassel rest just above the figure's right ear, giving the impression that it has hooked the head and is pulling it sideways. The gold railings suggest in the top right suggest the corner of a room, while those in the center background may be the headboard of a bed. The upper half is largely void of detail, while the lower portion, particularly the lower third has been heavily reworked, and consists of a blending of white, gray and black pigments.
102:
ear still intact. It is the first of Bacon's paintings to feature gold background railings or bars; later to become a prominent feature of his 1950s work, especially in the papal portraits where they would often appear as enclosing or cages around the figures. It is not known what influences were behind the image; most likely they were multiple – press or war photography, and critic Denis Farr detects the influence of
125:, but with the texture of a hippopotamus skin", and later "I had an idea in those days that textures should be very much thicker, and therefore the texture of, for instance a rhinoceros skin would help me to think about the texture of the human skin". Furthering this impression, the mouth and teeth resemble those of a howling fanged animal.
101:
in London. Like the others in the series, it shows a screaming figure alone in a room, and focuses on the open mouth. The work shows a skull which has disintegrated on itself and is largely a formless blob of flesh. The entire upper half has disappeared, leaving only the jaw, mouth and teeth and one
109:
Bacon juxtaposes traditional elements of portraiture with loose, spontaneous brushwork. In some passages he has rubbed or brushed out (perhaps with a cloth) the paint, a technique art historian Armin Zweite describes as "productive vandalism". There are a number of ambiguous elements in the work.
31:
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series out of necessity; he was granted the 1949 exhibition at the
Hayward a year in advance, but had not painted at all in 1947, and had only a few works he was happy with from 1948. Over time, the series became something quite apart from his initial idea;
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97:. Completed in 1948, it is the first in a series of six heads, the remainder of which were painted the following year in preparation for a November 1949 exhibition at the
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described the "color of wet, black snakes lightly powdered with dust". In 1951 Bacon said of his choice of colour and gloss; "One of the problems is to paint like
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100.3 cm Ă— 74.9 cm (39.5 in Ă— 29.5 in)
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turned into the first of his many examinations of Velázquez's c. 1650
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on hardboard painting by the Irish-born
British figurative artist
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Study for
Portrait II (After the Life Mask of William Blake)
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Portrait of Isabel
Rawsthorne Standing in a Street in Soho
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Triptych
Inspired by T.S. Eliot's Poem "Sweeney Agonistes"
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Love Is the Devil: Study for a
Portrait of Francis Bacon
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Three
Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion
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are usually considered less successful and minor works
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Version No. 2 of Lying Figure with
Hypodermic Syringe
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Study after Velázquez's
Portrait of Pope Innocent X
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868:Three Studies for a Portrait of Henrietta Moraes
876:Three Studies for a Portrait of Muriel Belcher
751:Triptych Inspired by the Oresteia of Aeschylus
313:Farr, Dennis; Peppiatt, Michael; Yard, Sally.
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117:gives the impression of animal skin; critic
927:Study for a Self-Portrait—Triptych, 1985–86
809:Three Studies for a Portrait of George Dyer
735:Two Figures Lying on a Bed with Attendants
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945:List of large triptychs by Francis Bacon
833:Portrait of George Dyer and Lucian Freud
674:Study of Red Pope 1962. 2nd version 1971
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979:Francis Bacon: The Logic of Sensation
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303:. London: Thames & Hudson, 2000.
289:. New York: Cross River Press, 1986.
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382:. London: Thames and Hudson, 2006.
368:. London: Thames and Hudson, 2000.
299:Dawson, Barbara; Sylvester, David.
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75:Collection of Richard S. Zeisler,
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516:Three Studies from the Human Head
334:. London: Westview Press, 1996.
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919:Three Studies for Self-Portrait
903:Three Studies for Self Portrait
817:Portrait of George Dyer Talking
759:Second Version of Triptych 1944
703:Three Studies for a Crucifixion
540:Study for a Bullfight, Number 2
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548:Three Studies of the Male Back
315:Francis Bacon: A Retrospective
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89:is a relatively small oil and
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841:Three Studies of Lucian Freud
825:Three Studies for George Dyer
366:Looking back at Francis Bacon
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349:Francis Bacon (World of Art)
317:. NY: Harry N Abrams, 1999.
238:. Retrieved 7 February 2014.
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962:Influences on Francis Bacon
285:Davies, Hugh; Yard, Sally.
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1015:Paintings by Francis Bacon
950:Triptychs by Francis Bacon
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500:Study for Crouching Nude
380:The Violence of the Real
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790:Triptych, May–June 1973
711:Three Figures in a Room
457:Wound for a Crucifixion
301:Francis Bacon in Dublin
425:Francis Bacon (artist)
142:Portrait of Innocent X
666:Study from Innocent X
634:Study after Velázquez
484:Figure in a Landscape
782:Triptych–August 1972
378:Zweite, Armin (ed).
351:. NY: Norton, 1971.
332:Anatomy of an Enigma
956:The Black Triptychs
556:Blood on the Floor
104:Matthias GrĂĽnewald
1020:Heads in the arts
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434:List of paintings
357:978-0-500-20169-5
340:978-0-8133-3520-9
328:Peppiatt, Michael
323:978-0-8109-2925-8
309:978-0-500-28254-0
295:978-0-89659-447-0
113:The use of heavy
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989:(1998 film)
981:(1981 book)
719:Crucifixion
567:Head series
508:Two Figures
449:Crucifixion
247:Russell, 71
165:Russell, 38
1004:Categories
374:0500019940
256:Zweite, 74
186:Zweite, 83
177:Dawson, 44
149:References
64:Dimensions
930:(1985–86)
686:Triptychs
661:(c. 1954)
266:Heads III
221:Zweit, 84
123:Velázquez
591:Head III
77:New York
72:Location
971:Related
615:Head VI
599:Head IV
583:Head II
476:Figures
279:Sources
136:Head VI
115:impasto
91:tempera
922:(1979)
914:(1973)
906:(1973)
887:(1967)
879:(1966)
871:(1963)
852:(1976)
844:(1969)
836:(1967)
828:(1967)
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698:(1944)
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669:(1962)
653:(1954)
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618:(1949)
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607:Head V
602:(1949)
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578:(1949)
575:Head I
559:(1986)
551:(1970)
543:(1969)
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527:(1955)
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495:(1946)
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460:(1933)
452:(1933)
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232:Head I
86:Head I
56:Medium
38:Artist
24:Head I
626:Popes
154:Notes
384:ISBN
370:ISBN
353:ISBN
336:ISBN
319:ISBN
305:ISBN
291:ISBN
130:Head
51:1948
48:Year
234:".
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364:.
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205:^
191:^
170:^
145:.
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417:e
410:t
403:v
270:V
268:-
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