Synopses & Reviews
Francis Bacon was one of the most powerful and enigmatic creative geniuses of the twentieth century. Immediately recognizable, his paintings continue to challenge interpretations and provoke controversy. Bacon was also an extraordinary personality. Generous but cruel, forthright yet manipulative, ebullient but in despair: He was the sum of his contradictions. This life, lived at extremes, was filled with achievement and triumph, misfortune and personal tragedy.
In his revised and updated edition of an already brilliant biography, Michael Peppiatt has drawn on fresh material that has become available in the sixteen years since the artists death. Most important, he includes confidential material given to him by Bacon but omitted from the first edition. Francis Bacon derives from the hundreds of occasions Bacon and Peppiatt sat conversing, often late into the night, over many years, and particularly when Bacon was working in Paris. We are also given insight into Bacons intimate relationships, his artistic convictions and views on life, as well as his often acerbic comments on his contemporaries.
Review
"Pleasurable reading. . . . Unique in its kind." The New York Times
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"Peppiatt's real accomplishment is that he makes you feel Bacon as a living presence." Salon Magazine
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"Valuable first hand information . . . including wholly unexpected source material." The Times [London]
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"Brilliantly and evocatively written." Antonia Fraser
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Careful research and 30 years of acquaintance inform this biography. --Notable Book of the Year
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Amusing and thought-provoking. --Richard Davenport-Hines
Review
An excellent, refreshingly unhagiological biography.
Synopsis
An outstanding and authoritative biography of one of Britain's greatest masters.
About the Author
Michael Peppiatt is the literary editor of Le Monde and arts correspondent for The New York Times and The Financial Times. In 1985, he became editor and publisher of Art International magazine. He divides his time between Paris and London.