Available in an Array of Colours
2009; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 10; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1080/14714780903265903
ISSN1941-8361
Autores Tópico(s)Art, Politics, and Modernism
ResumoAbstract This article attends to the observation that the kinds of colours in Bacon's paintings, particularly after the 1962 triptych made for the Tate exhibition of the same year, intensified in tone and diversified in range. It argues that the observation should be connected to the 'sensuous world of leisure' offered by the meritocratic, design-conscious and brightly hued spaces of Sixties London. Taking the example of 'those strange rainbow-hued shirts that he started wearing in the early seventies', it reasons that the influence of homosexual 'drag' clothing on the return of peacockery and colour in male dress deserves consideration in relation to the artist's use of certain colours. Acknowledgement I would like to thank Michael Peppiatt for his generous insights into Francis Bacon's dress and for agreeing to be interviewed. Notes 1 L. Alloway, Francis Bacon (New York: Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 1963), 22. 2 D. Sylvester, Interviews with Francis Bacon (London: Thames & Hudson, 1975), 12. 3 M. Peppiatt, Francis Bacon: Studies for a Portrait (New York: Yale, 2008) 16; also, in The South Bank Show interview with Melvyn Bragg: 'Today man wants the sensation without the boredom of its conveyance.' 4 G. Melly, Revolt into Style: The Pop Arts in Britain (London: Allen Lane, Penguin Press, 1970), 205. 5 Interestingly, Melly started his chapter on pop literature in 1967 with a quote from T.S. Eliot's Sweeney Agonistes: 'But I've gotta use words when I talk to you', and in the same year Bacon completed his triptych inspired by the poem. In the acknowledgements to the book, Melly had two people to thank for the 'firm criticism of the proofs' – his wife, Diana, and the art critic David Sylvester. 6 Nigel Whiteley, 'Pop since 1949: Lawrence Alloway (Back to Tomorrow)', Artforum International, October 2004, 57–8. 7 Victoria Walsh, 'Real Imagination is Technical Imagination', in Francis Bacon, ed. Matthew Gale and Chris Stephens (London: Tate Publishing, 2008), 74–88. 8 Melly, Revolt into Style, dust jacket copy. 9 Laurence Alloway, 'Pop Art Since 1949' (prehistory of English pop art), Listener, 68, 27 December 1962, 1085–7. 10 Adrian Searle, 'Pump Up the Volume', Guardian, 28 May 2009, G2, 19. 11 S. Handley, Nylon: The Manmade Fashion Revolution (London: Bloomsbury, 1999), 109. 12 Andrew Durham, 'Notes on Technique', in Francis Bacon (London: Tate Gallery, 1985), 231. 'For the background he uses acrylic paints; they can be applied quickly and smoothly but are "not subtle enough" for the central image. He also uses emulsion house paints which, like artist's acrylics, are fast-drying and convenient for the large expanses of flat colour which provide the setting for the image.' 13 Alloway, 'Pop Art Since 1949'. 14 M. Peppiatt, Francis Bacon: Anatomy of an Enigma (London: Constable & Robinson, 2008), 247. 15 Michael Peppiatt in conversation with the author, 12 June 2009. 16 J. Russell, Francis Bacon (London: Thames & Hudson, 2001), 130. 17 S. Ewen, All Consuming Images: The Politics of Style in Contemporary Culture (New York: Basic Books), 248. 18 Melly, Revolt into Style, 217. 19 N. Cohn, Today There are No Gentlemen (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1971), 54. 20 Michael Peppiatt in conversation with the author, 12 June 2009. 21 Melly, Revolt into Style, 143. 22 The cultural differences between wearing natural and artificial fibres were later defined by Studio 54, the New York nightclub of the 1970s, whose policy favoured admitting men who wore brightly coloured cotton piqué polo shirts. Those turned away from the door were referred to as too 'bridge and tunnel' (meaning they were not from Manhattan) or were from 'the polyester crowd'. 23 'The Observer Profile – Francis Bacon', Observer Weekend Review, 27 May 1962. 24 Peppiatt, Francis Bacon: Anatomy of an Enigma, 212. 25 Michael Peppiatt in conversation with the author, 12 June 2009. 26 'The Heavy Mob', Tailor & Cutter, 20 July 1971, 16–17. 27 Clare Lomas, 'Fashionable Gay Masculinity and the Shopping Experience', in The Men's Fashion Reader, ed. Peter McNeil and Vicki Karaminas (Oxford: Berg, 2009), 169. 28 Cohn. Today There are No Gentlemen, 62. 29 Ibid., 46. 30 Lomas, 'Fashionable Gay Masculinity', 171. 31 Peter Viti, quoted in Lomas, 'Fashionable Gay Masculinity', 170. 32 Cohn, Today There are No Gentlemen, 101. 33 Antony King-Deacon, 'Men's Fashion: Nailing the Aristocracy', The Times, 8 May 1970, 7. 34 A. Scott Sunderland, The Spaghetti Tree: Mario and Franco and the Trattoria Revolution (London: Primavera Books, 2008), 56. The book also reveals that Bacon's favourite table, table 6, was also favoured by 'Jeremy Isaacs, Glenda Jackson, Judi Dench, Derek Eckart, Barry Humphries, Terry Nation, Ken Thorne' (237). 35 'Society: The Index: Who? Why? Where? When?' Queen, 14 July 1965, 49–78. 36 Scott Sunderland, Spaghetti Tree, 66. 37 G. Deleuze, Francis Bacon: The Logic of Sensation (London: Continuum, 2005), xiv. 38 Michael Peppiatt in conversation with the author, 12 June 2009. 39 Anthony King-Deacon, 'Colour it Male', The Times, 15 September 1967, 11. 40 'Michelangli' advertisement for Angli, Men's Wear, 30 October 1969, 40. 41 Alloway, Francis Bacon, 18. 42 Michael Peppiatt in conversation with the author, 12 June 2009. 43 Deleuze, Francis Bacon, 107. 44 Erica Crome, 'Shirtissimo!!' Men's Wear, 15 April 1971, 16. 45 Stephen Higginson, 'Elbowing to the Front', The Times, 12 December 1969, 9. 46 Michael Peppiatt in conversation with the author, 12 June 2009. 47 Ibid. 48 M. Quant, Quant by Quant (New York: Putnam's Sons, 1966), 165. 49 'The Heavy Mob', 16–17. 50 Armin Zweite, 'Introduction', in Francis Bacon: The Violence of the Real, ed. Armin Zweite and Maria Muller (London: Thames & Hudson, 2006), 17. 51 D. Sylvester, Looking Back at Bacon (London: Thames & Hudson, 2000), 81. 52 Alloway, Francis Bacon, 18. 53 Armin Zweite and Maria Muller, Francis Bacon, 159. 54 Tonic fabric is a wool/mohair blend favoured by Mods in the 1960s. 55 'Francis Bacon on Drug Charge', The Times, 3 September 1970, 2. 56 Richard Morphet, 'Commentary', in Richard Hamilton (London: Tate Gallery, 1970), 78. 57 Alloway, Francis Bacon, 12. 58 Peppiatt, Francis Bacon: Anatomy of an Enigma, 292. 59 Alloway, Francis Bacon, 20. 60 Peppiatt, Francis Bacon: Anatomy of an Enigma, 38.
Referência(s)