Francis Bacon in Your Blood - Softcover

Peppiatt, Michael

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1408856301 ISBN 13: 9781408856307

Publisher: Bloomsbury Paperbacks, 2017

Synopsis

"This fine memoir is more insightful than gossipy, and as a subject Bacon is just about unbeatable." -- The New York Times

In June of 1963, when Michael Peppiatt first met Francis Bacon, the former was a college boy at Cambridge, the latter already a famous painter, more than thirty years his senior. And yet, Peppiatt was welcomed into the volatile artist's world; Bacon, considered by many to be "mad, bad, and dangerous to know," proved himself a devoted friend and father figure, even amidst the drinking and gambling.

Though Peppiatt would later write perhaps the definitive biography of Bacon, his sharply drawn memoir has a different vigor, revealing the artist at his most intimate and indiscreet, and his London and Paris milieus in all their seediness and splendor. Bacon is felt with immediacy, as Peppiatt draws from contemporary diaries and records of their time together, giving us the story of a friendship, and a new perspective on an artist of enduring fascination.

About this title

About the Author

Michael Peppiatt studied at the University of Cambridge, where he began his career and an art writer by writing exhibition reviews for the Observer. In an international career as a writer and curator, he has curated numerous exhibitions of Francis Bacon's and other artists' work and been published in Le Monde, the New York Times, the Financial Times, Art News and Art International, which he bought and relaunched in 1985. In 2005, he was awarded a Ph.D. by the University of Cambridge for his published work in the field of twentieth-century art. He is a member of the Society of Authors and the Royal Society of Literature, and in 2010 he joined the international board of the Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome.

Review

"A frank and stylish memoir." ―The New Yorker

"A gouache decoupe of a friend, against a background of art history . . . Peppiatt’s remembrance is neither tribute nor apologia. Francis Bacon in Your Blood is a candid portrayal of a very famous man who could be very generous, even with his foes, and very petty, even with his friends." ―John Reed, The New York Times Book Review

"Every page is fresh, immediate, and flashing with glimpses into Bacon’s complicated psyche and Peppiatt’s own conundrums . . . He celebrates with ever-replenished wonder the timeless artist’s creativity, 'freedom and energy and total individuality.'" ―Donna Seaman, Booklist

About this edition

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Paperbacks
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 1408856301
• ISBN 13: 9781408856307
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 416