Buffalo Rising Online

May 2nd 2007, 7:45am By Gabrielle Bouliane

The painter Francis Bacon, descendent of the 16th century philosopher, once said, “The job of the artist is always to deepen the mystery,” and he certainly succeeded in that mission in the course of his life and work. Known for his austere and even grotesque imagery, Bacon’s life took turns to the strange from the very beginning that were reflected in his work.

Bacon’s sickliness and overt homosexual tendencies enraged his father, getting him horsewhipped once and eventually thrown out of the family homestead. Having been frequently displaced as a child, at the age of 17 he was on the streets permanently with a tiny allowance from his mother’s trust fund, and quickly found unsavory ways of keeping himself housed and fed, either by petty theft, rent-dodging, or by finding wealthy male patrons to take him in. After one such tryst, Bacon found himself with enough wherewithal to make it as far as Paris, where he was exposed to his first exhibit of drawings by Pablo Picasso, which inspired him to take up the brush.

The upcoming Albright-Knox exhibit is a retrospective of Bacon’s work from the 1950’s — a time when he was at the full strength of his powers, as well as at his most seemingly disturbing. The exhibit, curated by Michael Peppiatt, who is also the author of the exhibition catalogue and a personal friend of Bacon, will feature some of his strongest pieces, including works from Yale University Art Gallery and the Art Institute of Chicago.

Douglas Dreishpoon, Ph.D., Senior Curator for the Albright-Knox, says that one reason the exhibition is focused on this period of Bacon’s oeuvre is that “this was a watershed period for Bacon. This was when he began painting in full force and with maturity, and is really painting out of his head. The themes that evolved out of the ‘50s were the ones that persisted, that he continued to develop for the rest of his career.” He told BRM that the show will be a good primer for the newcomer to Bacon’s work, while for the affecionado, the show will be a chance to see pieces together that they haven’t seen before.

Additionally, education director Marianne Smith has created an accompanying text in the format of a tabloid brochure that will be available all over town, which helps to inform Bacon’s biography, essential to gaining understanding of his work. (As an example, much has been made of his defining relationship with George Dyer, who he claimed to have met while George was burgling his apartment. The stormy relationship culminated with George committing suicide in their hotel room during the eve of Bacon’s major retrospective at the Paris Grand Palais.)

People don’t just choose the life of a tortured artist – a combination of internal conditions and external circumstances combine to provide the overwhelming atmosphere that invades a particularly sensitive person’s heart, and while some who experience this sink into sheer madness, others retain the ability to express their inner malaise, a scream against the banality of everyday existence. Bacon, of course, falls into this category, and while some of us may thank whatever God we believe in that we don’t have to live in that mindset permanently, Bacon’s work gives us a unique insight into the dark night of the soul.

Bacon hungered to hone his instincts, which were taking him into unknown territory, creating pieces with which he surprised himself. While the drive into uncharted waters of both his life and work may have left him dancing at the edge of sanity, its legacy is clear – Bacon remains one of the major painters of the 20th Century, a teller of dark tales and a true modern bohemian.

May 29 – July 29, 5 – 10 PM Free Opening, $10 General, Students and Seniors $8, Members and children under 13 Free Albright-Knox Art Gallery 1285 Elmwood, 14222, 882.8700