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FRANCIS BACON 1909-1992 Dublin 1909-1992 Madrid (Irish / British)
Title: Central Panel, from: Triptych August 1972, 1989
Technique: Original Hand Signed and Numbered Lithograph in Colours on Arches Wove Paper
Paper size: 89.5 x 62.5 cm. / 35.3 x 24.6 in.
Image size: 65.5 x 48.5 cm. / 35.3 x 19.1 in.
Additional Information: This lithograph in colours is hand signed in pencil by the artist “Francis Bacon” at the lower right margin. It is also hand numbered in pencil from the edition of 180, at the lower left margin. It was published by Galerie Lelong, Paris, in a limited edition of 180 hand signed and numbered impressions based on Bacon’s painting “Triptych August 1972”.
Note: This work is generally considered one in a series of ‘Black Triptychs’ which followed the suicide of Bacon’s lover, George Dyer. Dyer appears on the left and Bacon is on the right. The central group (as depicted in this panel) is derived from a photograph of wrestlers by Edward Muybridge, but also suggests a more sexual encounter. The seated figures and their coupling are set against black voids and the central flurry has been seen as ‘a life-and-death struggle’. The artist’s biographer wrote: ‘What death has not already consumed seeps incontinently out of the figures as their shadows.’
Literature: 1. Tacou, A. (2008). Francis Bacon: Estampes – Collection Alexandre Tacou. Paris: Bervillé Éditions.
Reference: Tacou 24. 2. Sabatier, B. (2012). Francis Bacon: Oeuvre Graphique – The Graphic Work: Catalogue Raisonné. Paris: JSC Modern Art Gallery. Reference: Sabatier 23
Condition: Excellent condition. Remnants of hinging tape along the upper and lower margins.
