Photographs were import to Francis Bacon – his studio was littered with a piles of them, images of friends, x-rays, medical imagery, the early motion photography of Eadweard Muybridge, Diego Velasquez’s – Pope Innocent X. painting and photos of his own works formed a rich visual aid and were the starting point for many of his paintings.
Photos of the artist himself also helped characterise one of Britons most important and famous artists. Bacon was a tough character, a self-taught artist - his penchant for sadomasochism, East End gangsters, gambling and wild drinking in Soho also provided him with a fearful reputation. There is not an enormous collection of staged photographs of Bacon – but those that exist are fascinating – Bacon’s face had a peculiar doughy shape and how it was recorded and contextualized – either in his studio or out made for a something very visceral.
