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Bacon's "Three Figures" by =AlecBell:iconAlecBell:

Categories Literature > Poetry > Human Nature > Open


Those filthy little bastards
wouldn’t let me go. I moulded
them with layer on layer
of thick, sticky paint.
At the start of each day I was near
to vomiting. By lunchtime
pining for a drink. After I set
the brushes aside my lover
opened the wine. He and I
with our Bacchanalia to
deaden the end of each day.
In misery, self-loathing and disgust
I completed my obsessive task.
I at last became a painter,

though I lost enthusiasm
when I decided the Three Figures
were completed. There was nothing
in me left for the cross.
Three Figures, then, without a Crucifixion.
A trio of faceless hominids
               without a prayer.
©2009 =AlecBell
:iconalecbell:

Author's Comments

Francis Bacon has been with me recently.


20/08:My most sincere thanks to :iconladylincoln: for featuring my poem among today's Daily Deviations, Heartfelt thanks too, to :iconpickled-poppy: for suggesting.

I'm overjoyed to have been chosen!!

I shortened the picture's title so that it would fit the title box. Bacon called it Three Studies For Figures At The Base Of A Crucifixion

Daily Deviation

Given 2009-08-20

Bacon's "Three Figures" by =AlecBell, provides a vivid account of the inspiration and intrigue that this artist provides for himself - and for others in an unforgettable way. (Suggested by =Pickled-Poppy and Featured by ^LadyLincoln)

Critiques


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:iconpickled-poppy:
=Pickled-Poppy Apr 10, 2009, 4:28:14 PM
I really like this Alec.
I'm a big Bacon fan and I feel you've really captured him and his painting in this.
It's brillo :)

--
I'll write with more coherence than I'll ever speak
:iconwolfenfire:
~WolfenFire Apr 10, 2009, 6:38:45 PM
Francis Bacon? :?

--
I don't care what they say,
I don't care what they do,
I just wanted to say
that I fucking love you. <3
:iconpraytell:
*praytell Apr 10, 2009, 8:14:20 PM
i know the name, but not the piece . . .i suppose i should look it up:)
:iconwombat-pentagram:
*Wombat-Pentagram Apr 10, 2009, 8:23:28 PM
this is nice :)

--
"to dream perchance to wake anew"...
:iconalecbell:
=AlecBell Apr 10, 2009, 10:40:25 PM
He was a British artist of Irish birth, who produced figurative paintings of distorted and possibly tormented figures. He died in 1992, having survived against the odds into his eighties.

[link]

--
There's always a better poem just out of reach.

Words create situations [link]

The roots of the future run deep [link]
:iconalecbell:
=AlecBell Apr 10, 2009, 10:40:56 PM
[link]

--
There's always a better poem just out of reach.

Words create situations [link]

The roots of the future run deep [link]
:iconalecbell:
=AlecBell Apr 10, 2009, 10:46:34 PM
Thank you very much. I'm pleased you enjoyed the poem. He was a very strange man, I may be writing more about him in the future.

This piece is almost a pilot. I want to deal with the relationship between Bacon and Lucien Freud, who are not only the greatest post War British painters, but who were also drinking buddies. I am particularly interested in the fact that Freud painted a portrait of Bacon.

--
There's always a better poem just out of reach.

Words create situations [link]

The roots of the future run deep [link]
:iconw-uno:
=W-Uno Apr 10, 2009, 10:55:04 PM
He's one of those artists who has a tendency to plant his hooks, it's true. I don't think I shall ever forget what I've seen of his work, though honestly I don't find three figures the most powerful.

I love the last two lines, in particular, there is a cleverness there.

The darkness in this piece represents Bacon nicely (or perhaps not nicely, but too well), I think.

--
Go then - there are other worlds than these.
:iconalecbell:
=AlecBell Apr 10, 2009, 11:13:15 PM
Thanks for your comment, Greg.

I might have gone for the Popes, I suppose, given his Irish Catholic background. They are more interesting pictures

I chose the Three Figures because it's the one that Bacon regarded as his first mature painting. While he lived he wouldn't allow any earlier work to be included in his exhibitions.

I hope to return to this subject, to explore the relationship between Bacon and Lucien Freud.

--
There's always a better poem just out of reach.

Words create situations [link]

The roots of the future run deep [link]
:iconpickled-poppy:
=Pickled-Poppy Apr 11, 2009, 4:34:40 AM
He was indeed a strange man. A charicature of all tourtured artists.

Freud painted Bacon? I really didn't know that. Interesting. I'll have to look that up. They deffiantly do seem an interesting pair.

--
I'll write with more coherence than I'll ever speak
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