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YOUNG BRITISH ARTISTS OF TWO ERA'SFRANCIS BACON & DAMIEN HIRST
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YOUNG BRITISH ARTISTS OF TWO ERA'S FRANCIS BACON & DAMIEN HIRST The themes of time, decay and flesh, coupled with death and destruction are subjects, which seem to hold a particular fascination for two artists of the twentieth century; Francis Bacon and Damien Hirst. There are some examples of artists in earlier periods dealing with these subjects such as Boticelli and his depictions of Dante’s hell theme, but these are isolated examples. In general it seems that popular artists through the ages have preferred to deal with more glamorous subjects either through choice, or because of simple commercial pressures. There may well have been artists producing work for a specialist non-popular market, verging on the pornographic but these have not stood the test of time. Even during the depressing, gloomy introverted periods of the Victorian era art seems to have been formal and moralistic rather than morbid. Bacon seems to dwell on, or at least be pre-occupied by, war, meat and death as can be seen in one of his first paintings that received public attention – Painting 1946. Damien Hirst seems to have almost picked up the theme started by Bacon and to have developed it by moving forward in time. In this respect there seems to be a clear link between the “Young British Painters” exhibition at Agnew’s in London in 1937 which featured Bacons work and the Freeze Exhibition of the “Young British Artists" exhibition organised by Hirst nearly 50 years later (1988). Hirst appears fascinated by a time continuum and the cycles of life as can be seen with his work 1000 years. It is clear to see how Hirst has been influenced by Bacon, but where did this theme of artistic expression come from? There seems to be no precedent in recent history before Francis Bacon. There are examples of work from other artists contemporary with Bacon which deal with destruction and decay; the most famous of which must be Pablo Picasso’s (1882 to 1973) Battle of Guernica which was painted in a few months in 1937. Bacon is often bracketed with Lucien Freud mainly because they were contemporaries, in fact personal friends, and in their work they both dealt with similar subjects but Freud seems to be more inspired by flesh and the human body than with meat and decay. Francis Bacon was born in Dublin on 28th October 1909 but was not Irish. He was one of a family of 5 children, his father was a part time racehorse trainer and the family moved about a great deal from London to Dublin and back. It is also clear that his mothers family were eccentric, with behaviour bordering on the mad and as John Russell - a biographer of Bacon – put it “The important thing is that throughout his childhood he had an experience of human strangeness which set the tempo primo for much of his later life.” Certainly Bacon had little or no formal education. There seems nothing extraordinary about his pre-teen years; he was 5 when World War I began and 10 when it finished. He was sent away from home by his father in 1926 for being caught trying on his mothers underwear, a banishment which sealed the style of his life as a drifter throughout his teenage years. There is a version of these events (which appears to have its roots in the gay media), that he was banished for having affairs with some of the grooms at his fathers' stables. Whichever of these views is correct matters little, in 1928 he was living in Berlin and then in Paris, both experiences which opened his mind. Again to quote his biographer “ Berlin and Paris gave him the notion of a big city as an erotic gymnasium in which spring-board, trampoline and a variety of cognate boosters were available for the paid up member.” He enjoyed himself, gambled and generally soaked up life. The things he seems to have inherited from his father were looks, charm and the gift of the gab and on his return to England in 1929 he set up a studio in London, not as an artist but as an interior designer and decorator. He began dabbling with oil paint and had a joint show with a friend – Roy de Maistre but this was a small affair it was not until 1933 that Bacon really made his mark as a painter at the age of 24. He was “noticed” by Herbert Read an art publisher who reproduced one of Bacons paintings of a crucifixion in a book. The painting was purchased by Sir Michael Sadler after it was exhibited by Freddy mayor. All three of the above were well respected in the art world . In 1934 Bacon organised his own exhibition and it is interesting to note that Bacon subsequently criticised nearly all of his work shown then, with the exception of one piece “Wound for a Crucifixion”. This painting featured a large piece of human flesh on a table with a wound on it, which Bacon recalled afterwards as “a very beautiful wound”. The twenty years between the two wars 1919 to 1939 and more exactly the last ten years of this period is the time when Bacon laid down his artistic roots. He exhibited in 1937 and then although asthma prevented him from doing active service he did not exhibit again until 1945. During the war years he did serve as an air raid warden in London whilst daily and nightly bombing raids brought death and destruction to the city. It was at the end of the war in 1945 that Bacon seems to has discovered, or rediscovered his desire to paint, a desire bordering on obsession. The outstanding painting from the immediate post war period must be the Painting 1946 which is 78inches x 52 inches, which is now displayed in the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
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