Varying the Self: Bacon`s Versions of van Gogh

Transcription

Varying the Self: Bacon's Versions of van Gogh
Author(s): Brendan Prendeville
Source: Oxford Art Journal, Vol. 27, No. 1 (2004), pp. 25-42
Published by: Oxford University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3600432 .
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ofvanGogh
theSelf:Bacon'sVersions
Varying
BrendanPrendeville
herewiththenumbered
1. I amconcerned
a
thetitleStudyfor
ofpaintings
bearing
sequence
Portrait
ofvanGoSh,nos 112and129-133in
andRonaldAlley,Francis
John
Rothenstein
(Thames
andHudson:
Bacon,CatalogueRaisonne
London,1964.Allwereshownin Bacon's
Gallery
in Marchat theHanover
exhibition
intheseries
painting
April1957.Thefirst
in 1956,and
Collection)
waspainted
(Sainsbury
Van
retrospectively.
numbered
waspresumably
Parisand
Centre,
Pompidou
GoShin a Landscape,
were
private
collection,
VanGoShGoingto Work,
theHanover
in 1957after
bothpainted
andAlley,134and
(Rothenstein
exhibition
V andVI wereaddedinthe
137).Numbers
andwerenotinthe
courseoftheexhibition,
HughDavies,inhisFrancisBacon:the
catalogue.
New
Publishing:
Earlyand MiddleYears(Garland
York,1978),p. 158,quotestheEveninS
Standard
reviewofMarch21, 1957,whichstates
II, III andIV 'wereonly
thatnumbers
andwerestillwet'.
lastweekend
completed
Alloway,
inhisArtNewsreview
Lawrence
(vol.56no.3,March1957,p. 48, 'ArtNews
were
fromLondon')wrotethatthepictures
becausetheywerewet.
unglazed-presumably
6.
2. Davies,Chapter
Baconand theLossof
Francis
3. ErnstvanAlphen,
MA,
Press:Cambridge,
University
Sef (Harvard
1992).
'ArtnewsfromLondon'.
4. Alloway,
on theroadto
after
vanGogh'sSegf-Portrait
Francis
Bacon'sseriesofpaintings
apartfromtherestofhiswork,in termsbothof
standsslightly
Tarascon
were
of production
The circumstances
and of subject-matter.
technique
(nosII to VI, Figs1-5) in
mostofthecanvases
withBaconpainting
unusual,
Gallery;
they
attheHanover
twoweeksin 1957,inhastetofillanexhibition
(V andVI,
thepainthaddriedandtwooftheversions
before
wereexhibited
himself
1Thepainter
Figs4 and5) wereaddedinthecourseoftheexhibition.
invite
us
a factthatmight
unsuccessful,
as mostly
thepictures
cametoregard
experiment.
technical
a failedand precipitate
to see themas constituting
HughDaviesin regarding
hasfollowed
however,
opinion,
Generalcritical
some
underlined
Ernst
vanAlphen
works;2
morerecently
theseas transitional
ofa broadthematic
inthecontext
features
significant
morepositively
oftheir
thesisconcerning
an original
ofBacon,in whichhe developed
reassessment
ownterms
more
on
their
rather
thepaintings
'lossofself'.3I wanttoconsider
with
ofBacon'spaintings,
to thetotality
littlereference
andwithrelatively
at
I hopetolookfreshly
Inso doing,
ortomeaning.
tomethods
respect
either
the
toBacon,butwhich
concern
wereofpersistent
thatcertainly
twomatters
ofpainting
ina uniqueway:thepractice
together
ofthisseriesbring
paintings
andthethemeofselfhood.
of the Self
and the Complexity
Painting,Experiment
butthese
anypainter,
failtopreoccupy
couldhardly
ofpainting
Thepractice
ways,partly
anddistinctive
itselfin particular
workscentreuponpainting
ofartistic
change
in an attempted
becauseBaconusedthemexperimentally,
inwhichthematiere of
thattheseexperiments,
It is alsosignificant
direction.
ofthe
theself-portrayal
subject
takeastheir
conspicuous,
highly
paint
becomes
portray
expressly
painteron his wayto work(no otherBaconpaintings
then,thatconcerns
It is a subject,
notevenhisownself-portraits).
painters,
finda moreemphatic,
as muchas painting-andwe couldscarcely
selfhood
and
of theselfthanin thefigure
representation
cultural
evenhyperbolic
ofvanGogh.
reputation
Baconmovedaway
andtechnique,
withsubject
experiment
Inthistwofold
without
andVelazquez(although
painting
ofdark-ground
fromhispastiche
whathad drawnhimto the latter,as I will argue).In thus
forgetting
theaid ofsomefamiliar
he cameto denyhimself
hispractice,
transforming
elsefrom
butnothing
space-frames,
thereareoneor twovestigial
supports:
wider
openedtowards
thereby
Hispaintings
repertory.
established
hisalready
or
earlier
in
his
work,
parallel
without
to a degree
practice
contemporary
now,of
on Bacon'sadoption,
commented
reviewer
later.A contemporary
thereis no evidencethatBaconwas
Although
'thepostwarpaintbrush'.4
were
(thepaintings
contemporary
to theworkofanyparticular
responding
Bacon'swork)
indeedadmired
andde Kooning
withde Kooning's,
compared
concerns.
painterly
withcurrent
inbroadterms
engaging
he wasevidently
Baconian
amongBacon'sworks,I
outtheleastconspicuously
In singling
to defineBaconas a
tendency
a certaincritical
hopeto avoidfurthering
(C) OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
OXFORD ART JOURNAL 27.1 2004 23A2
BrendanPrendeville
5. Van Alphen,p. 9.
6. Van Alphen,p. 11.
7. Van Alphen,p. 190.
Flg. 1. FrancisBacon, Studyfora portraitof van Gogh11,1957. Oil on canvas, 198 x 142 cm.
Privatecollection.(Photo: Thomas Ammannhne Art,Zurich.)
radically
- almostcategorically
- exceptional
painter.For van Alphen,
emphatically
an exceptionalist,
thenecessary
starting-point
foranystudyof
Baconis theemotional
effect
thepaintings
uniquely
produce,an effect
he
diagnoses
as being'causedbya momentary
lossofself'.SVanAlphen
further
asserts,
adapting
a well-known
remark
madeby thepainter,
thatBacon's
paintings
'hitthenervous
system,
notonlyoftheviewer,
butalsoofWestern
culture
andofitsartistic
traditions';6
he qualifies
thisto meanthatBacon's
paintings
'hitthenervous
system'
bysimultaneously
evoking
andupsetting
(Western)
cultural
expectations.
He concludes
hisbookwiththefinding
that
thereis in Bacona strategic
and consistent
'resistance
to theobjectifying
transformations
ofstereotypical
discourse'
having
as itsaffective
consequence
fortheviewera 're-subjectification'
ofthebody:'thisresistance,
seenas an
ongoing
bodily
movement,
is theself'.7VanAlphen
supports
thisclaimwith
26 OXFORD ART JOURNAL 27.1 2004
Varyingthe Self:Bacon's Versionsof van Gogh
Flg. 2. FrancisBacon, Studyfora portrait
of van Gogh111,
1957. Oil and sand on linen,198 x 142
cm. Hirshhorn
Museum and SculptureGarden,SmithsonianInstitute,Giftof the Joseph H. Hirshhorn
Foundation,1966.
muchtelling
observation
andanalysis,
butI havereservations.
I do notobject
to theparadoxofa selfllood
whichentails
self-dispossession
or 'lossofself'
(sucha paradoxis central
to PaulRicoeur's
theory
oftheself,whichI will
touchon shortly);
butI see selfhood
in lessrestrictive
terms,
as an unstable
complex,
opencontinually
to historical
change,
cultural
variation
and(self-)
reformulation,
ratherthanin terrns
of an opposition
betweenideological
superstructure
andinternal
resistance
movement.
Theemotional
teleology
van
Alphen
finds
inBaconappears
to meto be theartefact
ofhisanalysis;
unlike
him,I am not inclined
to specify
a typicalaffective
responseto Bacon's
paintings,
butammoreconcerned
to focusonthepainter's
actions.
Thisis in
orderto see how,through
hisworkas a painter,
Baconengagedwiththe
selfhood-complex
as mediated
bythewiderpractice
ofpainting.
OXFORDARTJOURNAL
27.1 2004 27
gff^ t: ir C°nStrhuction
i3__ 01
i; &
_
g
i art
\_
varying
X" (or
^ holds
# - any
to __-4-.balance
practlce,
this
other)
sense
111_ with
asssnce
. of
a . the
'discourse',
a ItTeoljk
percipient
referred
neoplatonic 'method'
to practice
in perspective
so
idealism
far
The In as
BrendanPrendexille
9
__g|
-l
i_
&
..
reluctant
to followv
vanAlphen
in seelngBacon's
,,_
a_=.s
_\
_s
wS
w-
ov rrd
_
n
-_;E
g_
.
_
tajredjUCfti°n
to fsi,gns
d tending
to
Y
i
*._
l o df5dnmisbthn
fir fnmmlamThefirst
s
==
r
f
y
,y,9
.
.
i
',_
{')"'S;!;iEllfi3
of van GoghIV,1957. Oil on canvas, 152.4 x 116.8 cm.
Tate Gallery.(Photo: t Tate, London2002.)
It is appositehere to comment
on one of van Alphen'srhetorical
innovations:
heascribes
'theories'
toBacon- nottoBacontheinterviewee
but
to thepainter,
whosetheories
areembedded
inhispractice:
Bacon'sartis 'a
discourse
. . . [which]
has propositional
content'.8
Thisattempt
to avoid
castingtheoryas extraneous
to practiceis in some respectsattractive.
However,
itactually
amounts
toattributing
to Bacona systematieity
thatis in
factvanAlphen's
(Baconhasschematisms
ofhisown,butthat'sa different
matter).Moreimportantly,
it overlooks
thespecifieity
of praetice,
which
differs
from
theory
notonlyintypical
content
andpossible
scopebutalsoin
terms
offundamental
orientation,
byvirtue
ofitsworkintheworld:artis in
principle
something
done,notsomething
axiomatically
stated.9
Thepointhasa
particular
bearing
onthepresent
discussion,
sincethepainter's
aetionandthe
actofpainting
areverymuchatissueinthevanGoghseries.Itis relevant
to
add thatvariation,
seriality
and repetition
are centralto artistic
practice
(manifestly
so withBacon'swork,including
thisseries),butplayno such
Varying
ofvanGogh
10. Paul Ricoeur,Onesexf
as Another,
trans.
KathleenBlamey(University
of ChicagoPress:
Chicago, 1992) (Soi-meome
comme
un autre Paris
1 990).
*,:J}
:
>,00
'i j, XPil,;
X' W4i
#.S
: ?. :i.
.$.
;,
:
.',
,
f
.
s}
t
-
;
S 'l
of van GoghV, 1957. Oil and sand on canvas, 198 x
137.5 cm. Hirshhorn
Museum and SculptureGarden,SmithsonianInstitute,Giftof the Joseph H.
Hirshhorn
Foundation,1966.
essential
role in anytheoretical
pursuit(Jasper
Johns'sfamousnotebook
injunction
beginning,
'Takean object,do something
to it,do something
else
to it . . .' is at oncean encapsulation
of artand a modelof theoretical
incoherence
or inconsequence).
Correspondingly,
I willbe concerned
here
withtheartist's
actions,
rather
thanwithhistheories,
realor imputed.
Noneofthisprevents
mefrom
making
relevant
reference
to theory,
more
specifically
to philosophy,
inorderto clarify
certain
concepts.
Infocusing
on
thequestion
ofselfllood,
I willmakesomereference
to PaulRicoeur's
Onesegf
asAnother,
anextremely
searching
andinclusive
recent
philosophical
treatment
ofthistheme.
10 Thisisnotbecause
Bacon'sworkmaybe 'decoded'bywayof
OXFORD ART JOURNAL 27.1 2004 29
BrendanPrendeville
11. Ricoeur
doesnot,it shouldbe stressed,
asserteither
theprimacy
or theexclusiveness
of
anyonetradition
relative
to others.
Hisbookis,
however,
wriKen
expressly
fromwithin
the
tradition
it critically
explores
- as is alsothe
casewithCharles
Taylor'smonumental
historical
study,
Sources
oftheSef (Harvard
University
Press:Cambridge,
MA, 1989).
12. Ricoeur,
pp. I-3. Strictly
speaking,
it is
wrongto regard
Descartes'
egocogitoas
venturing
a theory
ofselfhood,
evenifhasoften
beencitedinthatconnection.
Flg. 5. FrancisBacon, Studyfora portraitof van GoghVl,1957. Oil on canvas, 198.1 x 142.2 cm.
ArtsCouncilCollection,HaywardGallery,London.
Ricoeur,nor on thegrounds
of anyspecialaffinity
betweenpainterand
philosopher
(unlike
Deleuze,Ricoeur
hasnotwritten
onBacon,norindeedon
any visualart), but becauseRicoeuradmirably
definesthe traitsand
complexities
ofselfhood
in a cultural
tradition
thatis relevant
forBacon.1'
Ricoeur
viewsselfhood
notas capableofanysimple
definition,
butrather
as
a dynamic
complex,
cultural
andhistorical.
Arguing
against
bothwhathecalls
thehyperbolic
Cartesian
ego,identified
withself-certain
consciousness,
andits
opposite,
the selfshattered
into(linguistic)
fragments,
as encountered
in
Nietzsche
andhisrecent
French
readers,
Ricoeur
dwellsinitially
onpatterns
of
selfhood
discernible
in thereflexive
structures
of threelanguages,
French,
English
andGerman,l2
He finds
nota uniform
selfbuta dialectical
complex,
whoseelements
include'identifying
sameness'
as wellas selfhood
inthesense
ofself-reference
orself-designation
(a duality
inherent
inthecontrast
between
Varying
ofvanGogh
idemandipse,sameandself,in Latin).Thisis a compound
selfhood
inwhich
13. Ricoeur,
p. 319.
14. Ricoeur,
p. 333: 'To saythatmyflesh
is
alsoa body,doesthisnotimply
thatitappears
injustthiswayto theeyesofothers?
Onlya
flesh
(forme)thatis a body(forothers)
can
playtheroleoffirst
analogonintheanalogical
transfer
from
flesh
to flesh.'
15. WhileRicoeurdoesnotmention
Lacan,he
doesengagewitha quitedifferent
criticofthe
ego,Emmanuel
Levinas;
oneofthemost
innovative
aspects
ofhisbookis hiseffort
to
reconcile
Husserl's
phenomenology
with
Levinas'ethical
principle
oftheinjunction
by
theother.Introducing
theethical
theme,
he
proposes
to 'return
to Merleau-Ponty's
"I can"
andextend
itfrom
thephysical
to theethical
level'(p. 181).
16. JohnRussell,
Francis
Bacon(Thames
and
Hudson:London,1971),p. 91: 'I'd always
lovedthatpicture
- theonethatwasburnt
in
Germany
during
thewar- andas nothing
else
hadgoneright
I thought
I'd tryto do something
withit. Actually
I've always
likedearlyvan
Goghbest,butthathaunted
figure
on theroad
seemedjustright
at thetime- likea phantom
oftheroad,youcouldsay.'Baconinfactknew
thepainting
onlyfrom
a Phaidon
colour
reproduction
(Rothenstein
andAlley,p. 111).
otherness
iscentrally
implicated
(rather
thanstanding
overagainst
theenclosed
self).Theself,byvirtue
oftheexchanges
ofinterlocution
andthereciprocity
(not antithesis)
of self and other,is transactional.
Followingthe
phenomenological
tradition,
Ricoeurdwellson the'strangeness'
ofbeinga
body,an embodied
self,finding
herea crucialaspectof theself's(own)
otherness:
'thisbodyofmine'is alsoa bodyamongothers;
it 'adheres
to the
domainofthings',
butis also flesh,
justas eachpersonis bothagentand
patient,
active
andpassive.13
I donotownmybodysomuchasitpossesses
me,
itisanintimate
otherness;
equally,
I mayapprehend
theother's
bodyasflesh,
an otherness
intimated.l4
Ricoeur's
account
ofselfhood,
whichmybrief
remarks
cannotadequately
summarise,
has manyattractions,
foremost
amongthemthe rescuing
of
selfhood
from
thefalsealternatives
oftheenclosed
egoanditsdissolution.
Not
onlyis selfhood
opento negotiation,
itis a negotiation.
Muchrecent
cultural
theory
has beengoverned
by an antinomial
modelaccording
to whicha
fortress-like
ego,guarding
its'wholeness',
is mortified
orundermined
byan
apprehension
ofitsopposite,
a formless
otherness.
Thismodelunderlies
those
theories
of 'thegaze'whichhavepervaded
discussion
ofvisualartin recent
timesand whichhavebeenderived,
principally,
fromLacan.By contrast
Ricoeur,who does not foreclose
theself,marksit offfromno possible
extremes
of enclosureor dissolution,
and so in his accountselfhood,
historically,
may entertain
and visitall extremes.Selfhood
is certainly
historical,
butitshistoricity
oughtnotto be reducedto whatvanAlphen,
following
a familiar
pattern
of thinking,
callsthe 'Western
conception
of
discrete
andintegral
selfhood'.
Thisis surely
nothing
buta conception,
anda
commonplace,
uncritically
reiterated
in textbooksof culturaltheory.
Ricoeur'sapproach
to theissuehastheadvantage
ofkeeping
in viewthe
selfhood
we live,its enactment
in language
andsocialintercourse.l5
As a
philosopher
ofnarrative
whohaswritten
onliterature
rather
thanvisualart,he
has evadedtheantinomies
so readilysuggested
by thespatialarts.In his
account
thevirtue
of(literary)
art,respecting
motifs
oftheself,isthatitruns
freeoftheoretical
antinomies
andhierarchies,
andelaborates
itsversions
of
selfhood
byvariation
andexperiment.
Fiction
is a 'laboratory'
forselfhood
as
itramifies
andchanges
inlifeandhistory.
Bydrawing
onRicoeur's
account
of
theselfinpreference
totheantinomial
model,I hopetoregain
a senseofthe
historicity
andtemporality
bothoftheseBaconpaintings
andofourencounter
withthem.Thereis a dynamics
ofexperiment
andvariation
inBacon'swork,
overriding
itsrepetitions
andschematisms,
itsobtrusively
legiblepolarities.
Accordingly,
I proposeto discuss
hispaintings
primarily
as a practice,
rather
thanas a 'discourse';
as something
done,rather
thanas something
read.While
Bacon'sworkingeneral
often
seemsdensewithsignification,
everything
inthe
vanGoghpaintings
is redolent
ofaction.
Chance, ActionPainting,and the Figurein the Road
Thisisnottosaythatwecanorshould
disregard
thespecificity
oftheimagery.
Inhisre-enactments
ofvanGogh,Bacontransformed
thestrange
butsprightly
figure
ofthestriding
painter
(Fig.6) intodarker
andgenerally
morebrutish
entities,
giving
oneofthem(no. III, Fig.2) a death'shead.BacontoldJohn
Russell
thathesawthevanGoghimageas 'thathaunted
figure
ontheroad. . .
a phantom
oftheroad';16
later,inconversation
withPeterBeard,heobserved
that'mostartists
areveryawareoftheir
annihilation-it
follows
themaround
sf
i
S
x
}_r
;
| |
with
i ___
__
i __ ;0";
Gogh
_
haunts
u Peter
ihas
5; Am
returning
ti:presented
:0
onBeard',
0: Xthe
t: ,, X
!;road
from
us
;; 0ed.
here
; to
u
; the
18.Henry
Tarascon.'
with
Peter
deadSelz,
9w
theGeldzahler,
to
ed.spectacle
New
his
Z
(Even
Imaeges
I9iS
familiar
of
if Man,
of Bacon
inM
van
MA,
BrendanPrendeville
7/
<
t
Z
^
17. 'Francis
Bacon:Remarks
froman Interxiew
*
_::
_
Francis
Bacon:RecentPaintings
1968-1974,
:
A
t
c_
;;; :
;
:;*
MOMA,NewYork1975,p. 15.
;i
1|1Z,
NewYork1959.T e ot erpaintings
wereMan
M_
;
in a BlueBox, 1949, Studyofa Figurein a
iandscape1952(PIlJlP Innocetl
X 1953,an
l t
_
5;
Q
mayhave- perhaps
unconsciously
- echoed
Selz'swords,he recastthemas a moreconcrete
lod loo Ifteralimale)
Fig. 6. Vincentvan Gogh,Self-portrait,
on the road to Tarascon,August1888. Oil on canvas, 48 x
44 cm. Formerly
Kaiser-Friedrich
Museum, Magdeburg;destroyed1945.
likea shadow,and I thinkthat'sone of thereasonsmostartists
are so
conscious
ofthevulnerability
andthenothingness
oflife,andthevulnerability.
oftheir
ownlifeorofanybody
else's'.17ThevanGoghimageis striking
forits
trailing
shadow,andBaconindeedreferred
to vanGoghin hissubsequent
remarks
to Beard- though
inconnection
notwithpainting
butwiththewide
intelligence
demonstrated
invanGogh'sletters.
Theidentification
ofmotifs
of
deathwasalready
established
as a tropeofBaconcriticism
bythetimeofthe
'NewImagesofMan'exhibition
at MOMAin 1959,whenStudy
no III was
one of fiveworksby thepainterselectedforinclusion.18
The catalogue
commentary
referred
to Bacon'spreoccupation
with'thevisionofdeathand
man'sconsciousness
of dying'- a blandremark
thatlosestouchwiththe
concreteness
oftheartist's
practice,
ina dismaldrift
to generality.t9
Baconhimself
wasinsistent
thata painting's
'meaning'
couldnotandshould
notbe thusgeneralised.
In 1953,he wrotein praiseof Matthew
Smith's
sustained
effort
'tomakeideaandtechnique
inseparable.
Painting
inthissense
tendstowards
a complete
interlocking
ofimageandpaint,
so thattheimageis
thepaintandxrice
versa.Herethebrushstroke
creates
theformanddoesnot
merely
fillit in. Consequently,
everymovement
ofthebrushon thecanvas
alterstheshapeandimplications
oftheimage.Thatis whyrealpainting
is a
mysterious
andcontinuous
struggle
withchance-mysterious
becausethevery
Varying
ofvanGogh
20. Francis
Bacon,'Matthew
Smith-a
Painter's
Tribute',
Matthew
Smith;Paintingsfrom
l909 to 1952 (TateGallery:
London,1953),
p. 12.
21. Hisfirst
soloexhibitions
abroadwerein
1953(NewYork)and1957(Paris);workofhis
wasincluded
inimportant
survey
exhibitions
at
MOMA,NewYork,in 1955and1956.Forhis
impact
in RoyalCollegeofArtcircles,
see
Michael
Peppiatt,
Francis
Bacon:Anatomy
ofan
Enigma,London1996,pp. 159-60andp. 332
n. 15. FortheSlade,see FionaBradley,
ed.,
Victor
Willing,'Introduction',
(University
of
Washington
Press,2001),p. 12.
22. Russell,
p. 91.
23. Russell,
p. 92.
24. Lawrence
Alloway,
'ArtNewsfrom
London'(see noteI), p. 48.
25. Hirshhorn
bought
nos.III andIV,no. II
wasbought
bya British
private
collector,
no. IV
wasbought
fortheContemporary
ArtSociety
andgivento theTate,andtheArtsCouncil
bought
no. VI.
26. MichaelFried,'Bacon'sAchievement',
Arts
Ma,gazine,
56, September
1962,p. 28-a
reviewoftheBaconretrospective
at theTate,
rather
morecritical
thanappreciative:
'although
thereareinteresting
patches,
thevanGogh
paintings
tendto fallapartalmostentirely'.
27. VictorWilling,
'Thoughts
after
a Car
Crash:Noteafter
thedeathofJackson
Pollock',
Encounter,
VolVII,No 4, October1956,pp. 668, reprinted
inFionaBradley,
ed., Victor
Willing,
pp. 140-2.
substance
ofthepaint,whenusedinthisway,canmakesucha direct
assault
uponthenervous
system;
continuous
because
themedium
issofluid
andsubtle
thatevery
change
thatismadeloseswhatisthere
inthehopeofmaking
a fresh
gain.I think
thatpainting
todayispureintuition
andluckandtaking
advantage
ofwhathappens
whenyousplashthestuff
down.'20
Thiseloquent
passage
hasvarious
pointsofinterest,
andI willreturn
to it
later.Mostimmediately,
itstoneandcontent
remind
usoftheextent
towhich
Baconwasa painter
involved
withthemaincurrents
intheartofhistimeandwith'thepostwar
paintbrush'.
Bythe1950s,he wasan internationallyknown
artist:
Alfred
Barrbought
Painting
1946forMOMAin1948,andBacon
wasincluded
ina majorsurvey
ofEuropean
artatMOMAin1955.Twoofthe
van Goghpaintings
wereboughtby an American
collector.As an artist
exhibiting
at theleadingLondonavant-garde
gallery,
The Hanover,
Bacon
wouldhave been acutelyconsciousof his position;he was exhibiting
internationally,
his workwas admiredby otherModernists
(including
members
oftheIndependent
Group)andhe hadmadea significant
impact
amongyounger
British
artists.21
He hada reputation
to maintain,
andhis
comments
to Russell(published
in 1971)suggest
thathe wasawarethathe
neededto makea change
inhiswork,whoseimagery
andtechnical
qualities
werebecoming
over-familiar:
'I'd alwayslovedthatpicture
[thevanGogh]
andasnothing
elsehadgoneright
I thought
I'd trytodo something
withit.'22
Russell,in 1971,judgedthepaintings
as amonghis weakest,withtheir
'splashy,
approximate
procedure'23
(compare
Bacon'scomments
on Smith,
andthefactor
ofchance
- 'taking
advantage
ofwhathappens
whenyousplash
thestuff
down).Yettheshowhadanimpact,
withsomereviewers
welcoming
thechange.
Lawrence
Alloway
found
thatBaconhad'recovered
hisform'
after
having
'stagnated
inhisownlegend'fora yearor two.24
My aimin recounting
thecircumstances
in whichBaconproduced
the
paintings
is toretrieve
a senseofthepainter's
agency:
to seehimas oneartist
working
amongothers
at a certain
time,subject
to particular
pressures
and
constraints
butalsoguidedbytheimperatives
lucidly
setoutintheMatthew
Smithessay.The evidence
suggests
that,in 1957,Baconattempted
a selfconsciously
gambler-like
return
tocentre
stage,as ifstaking
everything
onthe
propitious
figure
ofvanGoghafter'nothing
elsehadgoneright'andin the
process
playing
withchance,
making
a playwithsplashes.
Thegamble
paidoff,
totheextent
thatthepaintings
sold,withtwogoingtotheAmerican
collector
JosephHirshhorn,
and not long afterwards
Bacon signedwith the
Marlborough.25
Bacon'snewdealers
wouldcertainly
havehadaneyetohislikely
American
sales,andthisbrings
usbacktothequestion
ofthe'postwar
paintbrush'
andits
relevance
to thevanGoghseries.In 'NewImagesofMan',StudyNo. III,
reproduced
in colourin thecatalogue,
couldbe seenalongside
European
matiere
painting
(Appel,Dubuffet)
and'action
painting'
(Pollock,
de Kooning).
In 1960MichaelFriedcompared
thevanGoghpaintings
withde Kooning's
work,interms
atoncecritical
andappreciative.26
In 1956,theyoung
Victor
Willing,
anadmirer
ofBacon'swork,hadpublished
anarticle
inEncounter
on
thedeathof Jackson
Pollock,svriting
in manifestly
Baconian
terms:'The
surface
ofa Jackson
Pollock
canvas
involves
usinthemostrawvisualsensation
of appliedpaintthatwe are likelyto haveexperienced.
The marksstrike
directly
onthenerves
. . .X27
Patrick
Heron,inhisreview
ofthe1957Hanover
Gallery
show,prefaced
hiscritique
ofBaconwithremarks
on 'theabsolutely
obvious
andovertspontaneity
ofAmerican
painting
ofthePollock
generation'.
InBacon,too,hefound
a spurious
spontaneity:
'today
themerespeedofpaint
Brendan
Prendeville
flicking
has becomethemostpowerful
criterion',
and Bacon'sworkhad
alwaysshownthis'evident
quickness'.28
However,
thevanGoghserieswas
moredistinct
fromBacon'sprevious
workthanthissuggests,
in thepositive
attention
Baconheregaveto thegroundrather
thanto thefigure
which,
inversely,
nowappears
innegative.
Itwasthisdistribution
ofpainterly
action
acrossthesurface
thatmadethepaintings
superficially
comparable
withde
Kooning's
Woman series.
One feature,
however,
markedly
distinguishes
themnot onlyfromde
Kooning
butalsofrom
Matthew
Smith
as described
byBacon:figure
andpaint
do not merge,as MichaelFriedastutely
pointedout.29Rather
thanarising
through
theoverall
configuring
ofpaintlikea de Kooning
'Woman',Bacon's
figures
standoutdistinctly
against
thepainted
landscape.
Theseareindeedfar
moreparticularised
images
thananything
inSmith
orde Kooning,
andineach
ofthepaintings
Baconmakessureto include
distinguishing
traits:
strawhat,
paintbox,
walking
stickandso forth.
Thefigure
refuses
to mergewiththe
paintformation
as a whole,notbecauseBaconfailstomakeimages
andpaint
'interlock',
as he claimsregarding
Smith,
butbecausethefigure
itself
hasa
moreself-isolating
presence
(or quasi-presence)
thananything
in Smith(or
thande Kooning's
'Women').
Furthermore,
whatis trueofthefigures
also standsforotherseparable
elements
ofthepaintings:
road,trees,skyandthebandsofthebackground
landscapes.The drawnconfiguration
of these elementschannelsand
demarcates
intozonesthebroadsmearings
ofcolour,whichvaryfromthe
moreimpetuous
(III) to themoreself-contained
(V). Thisassembling
of
elements
is theconstant,
therule,whichorganises
thevariations,
andcentral
to it is therelation
of interdependence
betweenfigure
and road.In this
respect,
Patrick
Heroncompared
Bacon'srealisation
unfavourably
withthatof
van Gogh,whose'geniusisformal
(!). He makesthe edgesof theroad
absolutely
horizontal
. . . Bacon'sroadedgesslipawkwardly
upfrom
right
to
left,withan awkward
falseperspective
whichneither
defines
reality
nor
composes,
becausetheresult
is a slipping de-sign
which
willnotstaystill.'30
In
allofthis,however
- thefigure-ground
relationship,
theangling
oftheroaditis important
to seewhatmotivates
Bacon's'failures'.
I do notmeaninthe
senseofimputing
motives
(as one might
reasonably
say:Baconwantedto
restorehis reputation
by pastiching
current
painterly
techniques;
or, he
wanted
to avoidsimply
restating
thevanGoghcomposition);
whatI wantto
suggest
isthathis'failures'
suggest
thedirection
ofhiseffort
- hiswaytowork.
The elaborations
of the figure-ground
relationship,
the 'slipping'and
'splashing',
thevarying
orientation
ofthefigure
relative
to theviewer,its
ambivalence
between
stillness
andmovement-all thesecanadmittedly
be
recognised
asrecurrent
inBacon'slaterpractice.
Whatisofpresent
relevance,
however,
is thatthesefeatures
reflect
a repertory
ofpainterly
operations,
and
thisseries,
ifitindeedinaugurates
a newdevelopment
inBacon'swork,does
so inwaysthatemphatically
evokethepainter's
physical
action,
interms
ofa
singular
and appropriate
motif;one thatthematically
linksselfhood
and
painting.
(Itisimportant
tonotice
thatI amnot saying
thatthepaintisanindex
of Bacon'suniquetemperament;
nor thatthe selfhood
in questionis
discernibly
his.)Inaltering
thespatial
composition
relative
totheoriginal,
and
setting
theroadinobliqueperspective,
Bacongivesanemphasis
ofhisownto
thefigure's
relationship
totheroad:itis a 'phantom
oftheroad',nota figure
ina landscape,
andisasattached
totheroadashisshadow.
Byturning
theroad
intoperspectival
depth,
Bacongivesitsomething
ofthefunction
ofhisspaceframes(only II has a box-frame
aroundthe figure).Like them,it
28. Patrick
Heron,'London',Arts,
Sept.1957,
p. 13.
29. Fried,'Bacon'sAchievement':
'. . . in
manyofhispaintings
itis precisely
this
interlocking
ofimageandideathatdoesnot
happen.'(Baconinfactwrote'ideaand
technique
. . . imageandpaint'.)'Wherede
Kooning
inhisWomen triesto reachthehuman
figure
through
thehandling
ofpaint. . . Bacon
trusts
rather
naively
to thefigure
(ofvanGogh
on a road)andto traditional
composition
to
makehispaintings
cohere.'
30. Heron,'London',p. 13. Theexclamation
anditalicsarehis.
Varying
ofvanGogh
31. LustforLfe, MGM1956,directed
by
Vincente
Minnelli,
wasbasedon Irving
Stone's
novel,andstarred
KirkDouglasandAnthony
Quinn(as Gauguin.
Theartists
areplayedby
American
actors,
andbourgeois
types,
including
Theo,byBritish
actors- as natural
and
repressive,
respectively).
Thearthistorian
John
Rewaldwasan adviser
andmuchcarewentinto
theartdirection,
whichcalledforthepainting
offacsimiles
andthecreation
ofsets
corresponding
to thesubjects
ofthepaintings.
Minnelli
regarded
thefilmas a prestigious
project
thatwouldenhance
thestatus
offilmas
an art.He usedall hisingenuity
as a director
of
musicals
to transform
motifs
from
thepaintings
intoscenesofnarrative
action.Immediately
priorto thissequence,
thepainter
castsa long
shadowas he leavesat dawn,exiting
theframe
at left;fadeto a horizontal
travelling
shotof
himon theroad,hisshortened
shadowbefore
him;he comesto twotreesandpauses,framed
bythem,to turnto thedistant
view,then
rushes
on. (ForMinnelli,
seeJames
Naremore,
TheFilmsof
Vincente
Minnelli,
Cambridge
University
Press:Cambridge,
1993.)
32. Sten&al,Le rougeet le noir,Pleiadeed., Bk.
2, Ch. 19,p. 557: 'Wellsir,a novelis a
mirror
whichtravels
alonga highroad.
Sometimes
itreflects
to youreyestheblueof
theheavens,
sometimes
themudofthepuddles
in theroad. . .' Thephrase
first
appears
earlier
in thebook,inslightly
different
form,
attributed
to a seventeenth-century
writer,
as
theepigraph
to Ch, 13: 'A novel:itis a mirror
thatonetakesalonga road.'(Platooriginally
usedthemetaphor
ofthetravelling
mirror,
but
ofcourseinterms
critical
ofmimesis).
33. Julius
Maier-Graefe's
Vincent,
derRoman
einesGottsuchers
(Munich,
1921),setoutthelife
innovelistic
style.Irving
Stonewentfurther
in
thisdirection
inLustforLfe: a novelaboutvan
Goghin 1934.Fortheearlymythography
ofvan
Gogh,see CarolM. Zemel,TheFormation
ofa
Legend:vanGoShCriticism,
1890-1920 (Umi
Research
Press:AnnArbor,1980).Bacon
himself
hasofcoursealready
beenthesubject
of
twobiographies,
Michael
Peppiatt's,
cited
above,andDanielFarson's
satisfyingly
scandalous
TheGildedGutter
Lfe ofFrancis
Bacon
(Pantheon
Books:London,1993);Bacon'slife
toohasbeenfictionalised
on film.Peppiatt
(p. 168)writes'Characteristically
enough,
Bacon'sinterest
in vanGoghwasquickened
by
seeingVincente
Minnelli's
LustfolLfe'.
simultaneously
situates
thefigure
fortheviewer
andembodies
thefigure's
own
perspective,
thelatter
senseheightened
herebytheconnotation
ofa journey
(evenifthefigure
is,intwocasesat least,arrested).
A lonefigure
travelling
downa roadistheepitome
ofthefictional
narrative.
Fromthefolktaletotheroadmovie,theroadappears
as thespineofmany
a
narrative
inwhich
a character
setsoutona journey
offortune
andhazard.
The
imageof the traveller
is inseparable
fromthe narration
of life-stories,
particularly
thoseconcerning
adventure,
encounters
bychance.VanGogh's
Tarascon
painting
seemsto carrya recollection
of GustaveCourbet'sThe
Meeting,
1854, in which
thepainter
showshimself
meeting
hisfuture
patron
Alfred
Bruyas
bythesideofa road,ontowhichhe castsa distinct
shadow.
Although
thereis no evident
encounter
invanGogh'spicture,
oneis implied
intheturning
ofthepainter's
head.Vincente
Minnelli,
working
thepainting
intotheactionofhisfilmLustforL/fe,
hasvanGogh(KirkDouglas)pause
momentarily
as he walksalongtheroadto lookin towards
thelandscape,31
thusreturning
thepainting's
motif
tothenarrative
ofvanGogh'slife-journey.
He alsothereby
avoidsthecinematic
anomaly
ofanoutward
gaze,meeting
that
oftheviewer.
Incontrast,
thesenseofa human
encounter
is certainly
central
to Bacon'svariations
on vanGogh,evenifBacon'sfigures
do notinvariably
follow
theoriginal
- inwhich
thegazeisturned
totheviewer
who,inthefirst
instance,
hadbeenthepainter
himself.
In fictional
convention,
thereaderoften'meets'or 'finds'theheroas a
traveller
isolated
ontheroad.Stendhal
famously
described
thenovelitelf
as 'a
mirror
which
travels
alonga highroad',ina passage
thatisitself
anasidetothe
reader,
as ifencountered
at thevergeofthenarrative.32
VanGogh'swasof
coursea much-narrated
life-story:
inaddition
tothevolumes
ofhisletters
- an
inadvertent
autobiography
- twobiographies
hadbeenpublished
longbefore
thetimeBaconpainted
theHanover
pictures
(Minnelli's
biopichadcomeout
intheprevious
year).33
WhileBacon'spaintings
couldhardly
be saidtopresent
themythic
persona
thusbuiltupsincevanGogh'sdeath,
theycannot
evadeit
either.
Thelong-established
account
ofvanGoghcharacterised
himas solitary
anddedicated,
as onewhosuffers
andstruggles,
anditattributed
consequent
moralqualities
to hiswork.Noneof thiswas inappropriate:
fromMaierGraefe'sbiography
onwards,
van Goghoffers
a strongexampleof what
Ricoeurcallsthe 'mandated
self',theselfsentforth
as if on a mission,
dedicated
anddefined
byprofession.
Thisistheselfllood
ofself-designation,
of
thereflexive
I myself
undertake
todo this,I willdo itmyself.
(The
tendency
toregard
thepainter's
remarkable
human
qualities
as integral
tohis
workwasreinforced
whenthepainter's
workwasexhibited
intheaftermath
ofwar,in1947,inParisandLondon.)
Bacon'sobservations
onvanGoghshow
thathe too saw himin exemplary
termsbut in thesepaintings,
which
manifestly
bearonthepainter's
profession,
thecentral
figure
isinmostcasesa
sluggish,
thuggish,
doubtful
andhesitant
presence:
thecharacteristic
Baconian
anti-hero,
onemight
say,butherecounterposed
to a specific
andnuminous
reputation.
Ineachpainting
as a whole,however,
withperhaps
theexception
ofno. V, we find
precisely
thehandling
ofpaintthatBaconhadmandated
for
himself
inhisMatthew
Smith
essay:'. . . [a]continuous
struggle
withchance
. . . every
change
thatismadeloseswhatisthere
inthehopeofmaking
a fresh
gain.I think
thatpainting
todayispureintuition
andluckandtaking
advantage
ofwhathappens
whenyousplashthestuff
down'.Painting,
likethefictional
journey,
isa chapter
ofaccidents;
theroad,asBaconenacts
itinversions
II and
III,isa placeofdaring
action
andchance
encounter.
Itisnotforustoreaditas
such,so muchas to meetit,on theterms
offered
in eachcase.
moi-meAme:
Brendan
Prendeville
Bacon's Variations
Famereducesselfllood
to an image,separated
fromwhatRicoeurterms
its
34. TonyThomas,
TheFilmsofKirkDouglas
(CitadelPress:NewYork,1972),intro.by
'anchorage'
in 'eventsin theworld',whereit is a bodyamongbodies,an
Vincente
Minnelli,
p. 7. In hispioneering
study
individual
named
among,
andinrelation
to,others.
Theiconorsimulacrum
of
ofstardom,
Richard
Dyerargues
thatinso far
selfhood
lacksall thatis indispensible
to actualexistence,
andyetit hasan
as stars'embody
thetypeof"theindividual"
. . . theyembody
thatparticular
conception
of
appropriative
powerof its own. In spiteof whatMinnellicalledhis
what
it
is
to
be
human
that
characterises
our
'astonishing
likeness'
tothepainter,
KirkDouglas,
asa film
star,couldnotbut
culture.'
In thoseterms,
Douglas'sportrayal
transfigure
van Goghin his ownimage.34
Van Gogh'sself-portraits
were
wouldre-emphasise
thereceived
viewofvan
autonomous
individualit,v
themselves
transfigurative,
albeitin quitedifferent
terms,andit is worth Goghas epitomising
(Richard
Dyer,Stars(BFIPublishing:
London,
noting
howcompletely
Baconavoided
anyrestatement
oftheir
features,
inhis
1979),2ndedition
withsupplementary
chapter
ownpaintings.
IntheSainsbury
Collection
painting
of1956,which
presaged, byPaulMcDonald,BFIPublishing:
London,
yetdiffers
from,
the1957series(Fig.7), Bacongaverelatively
cleardefinition 1998,p. 99). Thestar,unliketheordinary
actor,neverceasesto be recognised
as her/
to vanGogh'sfacelbutrendered
an appearance
moreakinto photographic himself
in therole(andtherefore
as a realyet
record
thantotheintensified
faceoftheself-portraits.
Thereissomething
here remoteandinaccessible
person),
andinthis
sensetoothereis a redoubling
ofexceptional
thatresembles
thevanGoghglimpsed
intherecollection
ofa centenarian
in
(Dyer,p. 20). Thestaris both
Arles,attheendofthetwentieth
century:
'disagreeable,
smelling
ofalcohol individuality
moreandless'real'thantheactor,bothmore
andveryugly.Thewordsbring
usupwitha shock,
notsomuchbecause
they ofanartefact
andyetmoreresoundingly
actual.
production
valuescontribute
to both
appearto contradict
thehagiography
butmoreimmediately
becausethey Hollywood
artifice
andyetheightening
summon
before
usa mortal
vanGogh,a manwhohaslivedintheworldwith aspects,intensifying
evidence
ofphysicality,
to thepointof
others,
onehaving
as obdurate
andordinary
a corporeality
as ourown.
exaggeration.
DouglasandQuinnareboth
typically
'physical'
Hollwoodstars.
'Obduracy'
indeeddescribes
theuneasily
corporeal
quality
ofBacon'svan
Goghs.Theyarelumpen
andinert,savein theonlyversion
- no. VI - in
35. VanGoghpainted
twoversions
ofTheSower
which
Baconchosetomerge
figure
withlandscape
(Fig.5). Here,a longknife- notlongafterhe paintedtheTarasconpicture,
inAugust
1888.Thelandscape
configurations
in
stroke
scrapes
diagonally
through
theblue-black
paintofthefigure,
repeating the
paintings
resemble
eachother,andin a
thestrokes
thatdefine
theroaddownwhich
thepainter
strides.
Thispainting, drawing
oftheroadto Tarascon
(Kunsthaus
Zurich;F. 1502inJ.B. de la Faille,TheWorks
whichhasthesteepest
(andthemostcontradictory)
perspectives,
evokesvan
of Vincent
vanGoSh,J.M. Meulenhoff:
Gogh'sown emphatic
perspective
constructions,
particularly
thoseof his
Amsterdam,
1970),vanGoghslants
the
versions
ofTheSower,
whichevolved
at aboutthesametime.35
Thispainting perspective
to theleft,as intheSowerpaintings
SinceThe
getsnearest
to thedynamic
interidentification
ofcharacter
andjourney-space -and as Bacondoesinhisversions.
Soweris sucha familiar
image,itwouldnotbe
thatis to be found
infiction.
surprising
ifBaconconflated
itwiththe
Whileit is onlyin one casethatfigure
androadbeginto merge,Bacon Tarasconsceneinhisreworkings
- or ifwe do
inlooking
at them.
interprets
thetwoelements
as a jointentity
inalltheversions.
In no. II, he
reiterates
the shapemadeby figure
and shadowtogether
in the original 36. VanAlphen,p. 142ff.
painting,
but turnsthe figure
to the right,towardsthe shadowthatis
continuous
withit. Becausethefigure
is ineffect
itself
a shadow,
thethickly
smearedhues of the road take on the complementary
connotation
of
bodiliness,
flesh.
Ernst
vanAlphen
pointed
outthemeat-like
quality
ofBacon's
roadsurfaces,
mostconspicuous
in version
III; he describes
thesettings
as
'bodyscapes',
butit is alwaystheroadalonethatmostexpressly
refers
(or
belongs)to the figure
.36 In no. II, the road is a particularly
complex
intermixture
of reds,yellow,ochre,whiteand darkblue. The figure's
identification
withit is emphasised
bytheblacktriangle
belowandtheless
darkboundary
atthefurther
side.Thefigure
stands
onthisdemarcated
flowof
bright
paint,itsright
profile
clearly
defined
to markitsorientation
alongthe
direction
of movement,
evenif it is itselfimmobile,
anchored
by a huge
misshapen
limb.The 'slipping'
quality
complained
ofbyHeronconfers
the
senseofmovement:
thelandscape
slidesobliquely
pastwhilethefigure
isstill.
Thereis an analogywithtracking
shotsin cinema(as in Minnelli's
reenactment),
where
theframe
holdsthemoving
figure
stillbytravelling
withit,
whilethespacetraversed
passesbyina blur-andinno. II thereis indeeda
space-frame
(likethatofa viewfinder)
around
thefigure.
Intherelatively
few
casesinhisoeuvrewhereBacondepicted
horizontal
movementl
he oriented
Paper,
and
antecedent
a(Centre
¢;.the
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Georges
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15.
7Sainsbury
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have
of
We
Bacon,
illustrations,
horizontally.
one
Nude,
Gallery
can
Van
come
Collection,
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find
or
to
Pompidou)
Muybridgean
Goca,h
sllclmg
light
for
1952
comparable
adescribed
portrait
sinee
London
University
Here
ratner
(Detroit)
Bacon's
incharacteristics
ofone
where
shows
van
tnan
image,
aas
of
rGogh
death
1999,
'a
Landscape,
East
this
walKmg.
1,trap
most
1956.
and
van
Anglia,
is
set
Studyfor
in
relevant
Oilnot
aout
nos
tGogh
on
Nowich.
erelvant
and
canvas,
the
sma
being
a26-28
1957
case
smear
in
198
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142
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TheTownsendJournals:
Townsend,
37. William
record
ofhistimes1928-51, Tate
an artist's
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Forge,entry
London1976,ed. Andrew
Gallery
for14 Nos. 1950.
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on
Gale,FrancisBacon:Workinca,
38. Matthew
|
a
alonga roadthatcurves
walking
thedistance,
upward
inthe
andturns
acrossthebackground
hasan
formation
Thiscurving
foreground.
of
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Muybridoae-Study
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a
distinct
though
thefigure
from
indissoeiable
element,
themobile
beeomes
himself,
between
a conversation
recorded
Townsend
it.In1950William
from
of his
samples
Baeonand WilliamColdsreamwhereBaeon,showing
Here,the
through'.37
hadpassed
being
thaa human
showing
ofslime,
a kind
action
is
andthefigure's
passage,
withhuman
associated
roadis a smear,
'
_;
Fig. 8. FrancisBacon, Blue crawlingfigure,
no. 1, c.1957-61. Oil on sketchbooksheet
34 x 27 cm. Tate Gallery.(Photo: @ Tate,
London2002.)
group
38 Inno.1ofthis
photographs.
Muybridge
from
adapted
figures
crawling
that
bands
parallel
smeared
between
moves
horlzontally
fiure
8)
the
(F1g.
v
o
o
X
but
settings
notonlyofMuybridge's
thesense
retaining
oftraek,
a kind
make
one
traeking,
ofproto-einematie
toa kind
amounted
whieh
alsoofhismethod,
Brendan
Prendeville
entailing
an analytical
freezing
ofaction.Baconretains
thatsenseofa figure
heldforvision,but his summary
re-enactment
has an animating
effect,
substituting
foranexternal,
observed
bodyonethatthepainter
activates
from 39. PaulSchilder,
TheImageandAppearance
of
within.
Whathe drawsinpaintis equivalent
to whatpsychologists
theHumanBody:Studiesin theConstructive
termthe
Energies
ofthePsyche
(Trench,
Trubner
andCo.: New
'body-schema',
'thespatial
imagewhicheverybody
has[of]himself',
inPaul
York,1950,reprinted
1970),p. 7. Theuseof
Schilder's
formulation39
- thebodyas deed.
body-schema
theory
to explain
thelearning
and
In mostofthepaintings
aftervanGogh,thefigure
ofactions
hasan obvious
is an inertpresence repeatability
bearing
onpainting,
'Action
Painting'
inparticular.
bracedagainst
thegenerally
horizontal
or sloping
pathofpainterly
action.In
Frederick
Bartlett,
inRemembering,
a Studyin
nos.IV andVI (Figs3 and5), partial
exceptions
tothisrule,thefigure-groundExperimental
and SocialPsycholog.y,
(Cambride
distinction
is less marked,for divergent
Press:Cambridge,
1950,first
edition
reasons:a sluggish
coalescing University
1932),quotesthepioneer
ofbody-schema
movement
offigure
andlandscape
inIV,a general
dynamism
inVI. (Theredtheory,
HenryHead:'Bymeansofperpetual
greenbandatthebottom
ofVI hasno legiblestatus,
butservesto compress alterations
inposition,
we arealways
building
andsointensify
up a postural
modelofourselves
theactivity
which
oftheroad,andtoredouble
- literally
underline
changes.
Every
newposture
is
thesenseofenergetic
crosswise
action.)The seriesas a wholegivesmore constantly
recorded
on thisplastic
schema. . .' (p. 199).
pronounced
expression
to a contrast
thatwasinherent
in theoriginal:
the
Inexecuting
a quickstroke
intennis,
Bartlett
argues,
thebodydrawsonpostural
memory
figure
invanGogh'spainting
iswalking
andturning
tolookout,andtheactof
deposited
bythe'schemata',
but,as withactual
looking
back,whichcallsfora responding
attention,
effectively
arrests
the
remembering,
nevermerely
reiterates:
'I do not
movement
in itspassage,an arrestation
reinforced
bytheframing
effect
of
. . . produce
something
absolutely
new,andI
neverrepeatsomething
old.Thestroke
is
treesandroad.
literally
manufactured
outoftheliving
visual
Theduality
ofmovement
andarrest
iscentral
toBacon'svariations,40
andif
andpostural
"schemata"
ofthemoment
and
hemoderates
thecontrast
inIV,he explores
opposite
extremes
inV andVI,
theirinterrelations.'
(p. 202) Bacon,in
expounding
theinnovative
andrisky
character
of
whichhe musthaveworkedon moreor lesssimultaneously.
In no. VI, the
Smith's
practice,
obviously
leaves
out
of
account
onlystubbornly
static
elements
aretheidentifying
characteristics
ofthefigure: thepainter's
repertory
oflearnt
actions,
his
straw
hat,mahlstickandprofiled
features,
allofwhich
seemincongruously
to
'schemata';
thisdespite
thegreat,even
strategic,
partplayedbyrepetition
inhisown
be carried
alongunimpaired
inthegeneral
commotion.
Thefigure
inV (Fig.
Fora phenomenologically-based
account
4), standing
tolook,haspredominantly
thepassive
airofstanding
tobelooked work.
oflearnt
actionina different
field(piano
at,heldforvision;here,incontrast
withno. VI, thehalting
figure
alsostills improvisation)
see DavidSudnow,Waysofthe
and
thelandscape.
Theposeresembles
thatofa womanina magazine
photograph Hand(BarnesandNoble:Cambridge
Baconcutoutandkeptat sometime.41
She,similarly,
stopsto lookback, London,2001).
40. Bacon'sfigures
areeither
ambiguous
in
arrested
tobe seen,a darkshapeagainst
a receding
country
road.Thefigure
in
theiraction,
orarehaunted
bywhattheyare
V is, likeher,a negative
presence,
andhisfeatures
areformed
overa dark notdoing,as ifhesitating.
Twoparallels
occur
ground,
as in Bacon'spreceding
practice.
Vestiges
ofa space-frame
appear tome:Brecht's
recommendation
thatanactor
points. . . imply
whathe
underthevertical
brushstrokes
ofthesky.42
Inpainting
thesky,Bacondefined should'atallessential
is notdoing'(Brecht
on Theatre,
thedevelopment
of
theheadofthefigure
negatively,
andleftthesamedarkground
colourto
an aesthetic,
trans.
anded. John
Willett,
Hilland
appearinthebandatthehorizon,
so thattheviewer's
eye-level
andthehead, Wang:NewYork,1989,p. 137);anda line
froma poembyWilliam
Empson
(famous
of
turned
outwards,
intersect.
Witha hugefootplanted
acrossthevergenearto
courseforhisstudy
ofliterary
ambiguity),
'The
thebottom
ofthecanvas,
theattenuated
figure
istaller
intheframe
thanisthe
heartofstanding
is youcannot
fly'('Aubade').
caseinanyotherversion.
Incontrast
withthestriding
shadow
inVI,smallest 41. Thisis reproduced
onp. 17 ofthe
ofthefigures,
thisoneisreduced
tostasis
andtoappearance,
apparition.
That catalogue
forthe1996CentrePompidou
retrospective.
whichis heldto be seencannotmove.It hasimmobilised
itself
in orderto
attend
andtobe anobjectofattention.
Ithasgivenupitsimpetus
inorderto
42. Onetracedescends
ina shallow
diagonal
from
thetopright
corner,
to meetanother
be seenclearly
andina quasi-interlocutory
way.
crossing
horizontally
from
theleftside,
Through
hisvariations,
Baconexperiments
witha dialectic
essential
bothto
somewhat
abovetheheadofthefigure.
selfhood
and to painting
in thetradition
thatconcerned
him:painting
is
something
doneandsomething
seen,selfhood
isactive
andalsopassive.
IfI say
'I ammybody',thisentails
boththatI am'in'myactions
andalsothatI amin
a merely
passive
senseone(physical)
bodyamong
others.
Inthislatter
sense,I
appearincommon
viewandhaveidentifiable
traits,
justas I beara name,but
myagency
as suchis notvisible
orsimilarly
describable.
Thesedimensions
of
myselfhood
arequiteinextricably
boundtogether;
themoralparadox
oftheir
disparity
andlinkage
is central
to thetradition
ofrealistportraiture
which
fascinated
Bacon.Theportrait
conventions
thathe caricaturally
reinterpreted
in hispictures
ofthe1950sportrayed
'selves'in thesenseandintheterms
Varying
ofvanGogh
43. At the LouisianaMuseumforModerne
Kunst,January-April
1998, exhibitionorganised
by Steingrim
Laursen.VersionsII, IV, V and VI
were shown.
defined
here.Baroque
realists
likeVelazquez
exploited
thephysical
properties
ofoil paint(itssmeariness,
sliminess)
to afford
viewers
theexperience
ofa
fictional
(yetcorporeally
immediate)
encounter
withanother
self,ananala,gon,
onestilled
tolookbackina moment
equivalent
toandanswering
toone'sown
stilled
attention.
Itis a stillness
inwhich
movement
is latent,
andthemedium
ofoilpaintsimultaneously
givesthestillness,
asmass,andmovement,
astrace.
InthevanGoghseries,
thepresence
ofthistradition
is lessevident
thanin
almost
alltherestofBacon'swork,displaced
byhisengagement
with'action
painting'.
Morevertical
intheir
proportions
thanvanGogh'spainting
(which
Baconknewonlyinreproduction)
andonmuchbigger
canvases,
theirfigures
larger
intheframe,
thesepaintings
address
theviewer
atbodily
scale.Therare
chanceofseeinga groupofthemtogether
- onethatpresented
itself
to me
whenfourwereshownatHumlebaek
in 199843
- affords
a particularly
strong
apprehension
of Bacon'sphysical
involvement
in theircreation,
of the
improvisational
urgency
withwhich
hereconfigured
thepattern
ofhisactions
ineachfresh
canvas.
Thesenseindeedofbeing'inside'thepainting
isinherent
in thewayhe reworks
themotif,
painting
rapidly
andwithattack
arounda
shadowy
centre.
Yetevenwithin
thisradical
shift
inhispractice,
Baconremains
a realist,
in
thespecific
terms
outlined.
Abstraction
isneverremotely
a possibility:
evenin
hisnearest
approach
to American
painterly
materialism,
thepaintis never
present
purelyas itself.Thebandat thebottomofversion
VI is theonly
seeming
exception,
anditpoints
totherulethatingeneral
Baconrenders
each
surface-asserting
bandofpaintas a fictive
spatial
entity,
as ifhinged
backfrom
the picture-plane
- in the 'slipping'perspective
Heroncomplained
of.
Nonetheless,
becauseofthe'all-over'
rendering
ofthosesamebandsofpaint,
andthefrequently
driven
andimpetuous
handling,
thepaintings
bodyforth
the
painter's
actionsin a wayunparalleled
in his workas a whole.See, for
example,
thebottom
halfofIII (Fig.2), wherethepressure
ofBacon'spalette
knife
hasbrought
animpression
ofthestretcher
tothesurface.
To thedegree
thateachofthefigures
isrealised
as a 'smear',liketheroadsurface
intowhich
itsmovement
isdisplaced,
itappears
as something
atonceenacted
andimbued
withaction(mostly
stalled),
affirming
continuity
between
theactofpainting
andthepainted
entity.
Bacon'sbroad,figure-defining
wet-in-wet
strokes
with
loadedbrushor knife
inversions
II andIII worktowards
thatend;yetsuch
'struggles
withchance'arecontradicted
bythepedantically
exactdelineation
ofprofile
inII, andthealmost
derisory
addition
ofparaphernalia
inallofthe
versions.
Thefigures
arecontradictory
inotherwaystoo:theyaresubstantial,
evenheavy
presences
(inIII,sandismixedwiththedarkblueinthefigure)
and
yettheyareabsences,
voidsin theintense
chromatic
landscape,
andalmost
featureless
within
theirprofiles.
Cutoutto be seen,theyfailto appear.
Theyare theconverse
of Bacon'sdark-ground
paintings,
including
his
versions
ofVelazquez,
whereimpasto
denoted
presence
to vision.If,in the
vanGoghseries,Bacon'spaintis neveronlyitself,
it is sufficiently
itself
to
producea disparity
- quitemarked
bycomparison
withbaroquepractice
between
paintandimage,painterly
actionandpainted
appearance.
On the
otherhand,whatkeepstheseworks(likeBacon'spainting
ingeneral)
within
theambit
ofrealism
ishismanifest
pursuit
notonlyofperspectivalism
butofa
merging
ofperspectives.
In a Velazquez
portrait,
in Stendhal's
Le rougeet le
noir,andevenintheMinnelli
sequence
ofvanGogh'swalkto Tarascon,
the
viewpoints
oftheperson
portrayed
andoftheviewer
orreader
arereconciled,
madereciprocal.
Thecamera
tracks
a movement
asifdrawn
bythecharacter
it
frames;
themirror
travelling
alonga roadenablesthereaderto 'see' from
Brendan
Prendeville
within
theaction;thepainted
figure
looksbackwitha temporality
thatdraws
from
or seeksoutourown- andBacon'sreworking
ofMuybridge
invests
a
seenwitha feltaction.Inherent
in sucha blending
ofperspectives44
is the
condition
thatthefigure
portrayed
initsworld,onitsside,mustappear
tome
as a counterpart
to me in mine;it is thistwo-sidedness
and structural
ambiguousness
ofrealism
thatpersistently
engages
Bacon.In thevanGogh
series,
itappears
linked
toanalliedtwo-sided
relationship:
thatbetween
action
andappearance.
Bothfactors
- structural
ambivalence
and the dualismof actionand
appearance
- werealready
givenin vanGogh'spainting,
in thefigure
who
walksandturns
tolookout.Bytilting
thelandscape
whileenlarging
thefigures
within
moreupright
canvases,
Baconreinterprets
inmoredynamic
terms
the
twodimensions
oraxesalready
giveninthevanGogh:a horizontal
dimension
ofaction
anda vertical
ofinterlocution,
appearance,
identity;
or,anaxisofthe
journey
intersecting
withan axisoftheencounter.
Byaddressing
theviewer
through
emphatically
physical
meansandat bodilyscale,Bacon'spaintings
drawusintomimetic
engagement
witha movement
thatcrosses
ourown,as
we cometothepainting;
as ifouractionistobecometheconverse
oftheone
we see,as ifwe wereitscounter-weight,
stopping
whenitstops.Viewing
is
meeting,
andinthemeeting
is a kindofmimicry.
Ricoeur's
complex
account
ofselfhood
might
be seenas defining
theselfin
terms
ofintersecting
dimensions,
without
any'core'but'anchored'
inbodily
existence.
Itoffers
usa better
modelthanmany
others
forunderstanding
selfportrayal
and theportrayal
of otherselvesin thetradition
it speaksfor,
precisely
becauseit positsan unstable
selfactualised
inreciprocation.
In the
reciprocity
of selfand same,ipseand idem,Ricoeurfindsa basisforall
reciprocation.
Theseterms
define
twomodesof'permanence
intime':onthe
onehandipse,thepersonal
undertaking
(enacted
overtime)andontheother
idem,
thepassivebearing
of traits(unchanging
overtime).45
The figure
in
Bacon'sversion
II (Fig.1) is oriented
alongitspathbutstilled,
andcutoutin
profile
as ifforidentification.
Theblacktriangle
cutting
thebottom
corner
bothaccentuates
themobility
oftheroad-band
which
seemstodrawthefigure
onwards,
andalsomarks
itoffas a kindofplatform
onwhich
thefigure
makes
his appearance.
The deep,flatly-painted
blackof the triangle
makesthe
shadowy
figure
andtheshadow
itself
seemincontrast
allthemoresubstantial.
It is as if thetriangle,
in itsdeepernegativity,
drewan absenceintothe
painting,
byincorporating
intoittheboundary
between
theviewer's
domain
andthatofthedepicted
figure.
Thestrip
ofvariegated
red,greenandyellow
at
theroad'snearedgewouldthenconstitute
a lineofintersection.
Inviewing
thepainting,
we mayre-encounter
experimentally
theintersecting
ofselfand
otherthatconstitutes
selfhood.
We meetourdoubleandsurprise
ourselves
withrecognitions.
Thereis a diversity
ofsensesinwhich
thesereiterative
paintings
havetodo
withdoubling.
Therealist
conventions
ofspectatorship
whichpermit
viewer
or readerto 'enter'thefictive
spacewhilebeingsituated
outsideit,here
coexistwitha quitedifferent
and contemporary
impulsion
towards
being
'insidethepainting'.
I amalluding
herenotonlytoJackson
Pollock's
famous
declaration,
butalso to Bacon'sremarks
on Matthew
Smith.46
Thereis a
compounding
ofdoubleness
too in Bacon'shaving
painted
newversions
of
whatwasonvanGogh'sparta self-portrayal
intheprofession
ofpainter.
This
necessarily
implicates
Baconhimself,
withvanGogh'sfigure
serving
as his
double.Itcanalsobe claimed
thattheoriginal
imageitself
tooktheform
ofa
doppelganger:
vanGoghdepicts
a traveller
goingas ifparallel
to one'sglance
44. Maurice
Merleau-Ponty
discusses
intersecting
perspectives
inPhenomenology
of
Perception,
trans.ColinSmith
(Routledge:
London,1962),p. 353.
45. See Ricoeur,
p. 2-3. On p. 2 Ricoeur
writes'Ourthesis
willbe throughout
that
identity
inthesenseofipseimplies
no assertion
concerning
someunchanging
coreofthe
personality'
.
46. I amwriting
herewithMichael
Fried's
workonrealism
and'beholding'
verymuchin
mind.Thereis a certain
fitting
irony
inthefact
ofhispathhaving
crossed
Bacon'sjustafter
the
eraofthe'postwar
paintbrush',
inthatno
painter
sincethattimehasmadegreater
play
withthematter
ofbeholding
thanFrancis
Bacon
hasdone;perhaps
thenotion(or experience)
of
being'insidethepainting'
constitutes
a common
pointofdeparture
forthesetwoverydifferent
trajectories.
Varying
ofvanGogh
andreturning
it,a traveller
thatishimself.
VanGogh'sees'himself
herenotas
inhisother
self-portraits,
butmoreremotely,
asiflikea character
infiction
(it
hasbeenargued
thatheinterpreted
ProvenSal
landscapes
andfigures
partly
by
47. SeeJudy
Sund,Trueto Temperament:
van
GoShand French
Naturalist
Literature
(Cambridge
wayofcontemporary
novels).47
Theexperience
ofseeing
oneself
from
outside
University
Press:Cambridge,
1992).
is constitutionally
impossible
inanyliteral
sense,andinanysenseinwhich
it
48. VanAlphen
discusses
doppelganger
with
does occuris necessarily
uncanny,
forone cannot'own' one's imageand
reference
to a thematics
ofmirroring
(Van
appearance
intheterms
inwhichone'sselfis owned.Uncanny
self-seeing
is
Alphen,
p. 73 ff.).Autoscopy,
theexperience
of
indeeda widelyattested
experience,
epitomised
not onlyin accounts
a dissociated
of
seeingofoneself,
as iffrom
outside,
arisesinpsychological
literature
on the
doppelganger
butalsoin psychologists'
descriptions
ofautoscopy.48
Catching
body-image.
Body-image
theory
playeda partin
sight
of
one's
own
shadow
holds
an
intimation
of
this
alienated
vision,
andvan
Merleau-Ponty's
Phenomenology
ofPerception,
and
Gogh'sconspicuous
GillesDeleuze,whosewriting
shadowin theTarascon
on Baconmakes
painting
is central
to Bacon's
significant
reference
to phenomenology,
touches
variations,
as wellas beingoneofhisfirst
usesofa motif
thatwasto be of
on thethemeofautoscopy.
He seesitas
lasting
importance.
However,
as
I
have
noted,
he
also
makes
thefigures
symptomatic
ofa dissonance
between
the'body
themselves
shadow-like
intheircoarsesubstance
without
organs'(Antonin
Artaud's
term)and
andinthecaseofversion
II
theorganised
body.He finds
nineteenth-century hegives
theshadow-figure
a sharp
profile,
a markofidentity
thatcausesitto
accounts
ofhysteria
highly
suggestive
forour
becomea standing
silhouette.
Thisportrayal
ofa self's'other'canbecomefor
understanding
ofthebodyin Bacon;they
usanother
self,notthrough
describe
'a veryspecialsensation
empathy
oftheinsideof
(which
Bacon'spaintings
scarcely
invite)
thebody,sincethebodyis felt,precisely,
but by virtueof Bacon'sexperimentally
dissonant
deployment
of the
beneath
theorganism
[and]transitory
organs
are
dimensions
ofself-experience.
Thereis no pursuit
ofharmony
here:it is in
felt,precisely,
beneath
theorganisation
offixed
coming
apart
that
the
terms
of
organs.
selfhood
come
Furthermore,
thisbodywithout
into
play.
organs
andthesetransitory
organs
arethemselves
seen,
Philosophies
of embodiment,
in thephenomenological
tradition
Ricoeur
inphenomena
ofinternal
or external
acknowledges,
implythattheexperience
of thedoubleis inherent
in our
'autoscopy':
thisis no longer
myhead,butI
feelmyself
constitution
as bodilyselves.Thisis thecasewithHusserl,
insidea head;I see,andI seemyself
whomRicoeur
insidea head.'(GillesDeleuze,FrancisBacon,
particularly
drawson,andalsowithMerleau-Ponty,
inhiscomplex
account
of
logiquede la sensation,
De La Difference:
Paris,
the'two-sidedness'
ofthebody,as sensing
andsensed.49
Phenomenology
has
1981,p. 35.)
specialrelevance
forvisualart,whichmoreexpressly
thantheotherarts
49. Merleau-Ponty,
Phenomenology
ofPerception,
addresses
us in corporeal
terms.Therealist,
post-Renaissance
positing
ofa
p. 315.
spectator
before
the
work,
even
if
it
enforced
a
principle
of
commanding
50. HenriBergson,
Matterand Memory,
trans.
NancyMargaret
PaulandW. ScottPalmer
vision(or a visionsubjectto authority)
also brought
new scopeforself(ZoneBooks:NewYork,1988(trans.of5th
reflection;
ourideasof'self-reflexiveness'
owemuchtoperspectivist
tradition.
edn,1908),p. 57. Bergson's
useoftheterms
What
we
see,
if
we
stand
before
a
full-length
portrait,
is
a
quasi-reflection,
an
'real'and'virtual'
is idiosyncratic,
so some
explanation
is calledfor.He argues
that
imitation
self.Ifthisimplies
theobedient
copying
ofa stereotype
(Hamlet,
the
affection
is a function
ofthebody'scapacity
to
prince,
is 'theglassoffashion
andthemouldofform'),
italsoleavesopenthe
act(inrealterms),
whileperception,
which
possibility
of
slippage,
for
the
terms
of
selfhood
may
slip
apart,as thepaint
measures
thegreater
or lesserimminence
of
something
external
to us,apprehended
as threat
obtrudes,
within
theportrayal.
Thepaintsurface
isneartohand,theportrayed
orpromise,
'neverexpresses
anything
buta
figure
apparently
far;yetthisassigning
ofpositions
is insecure,
sincethepaint
virtual
action.'Whenthedistance
between
surface
is
'outside'
me
in
a
way
the
figure
is
not.
In
the
Tarascon
painting,
van
ourselves
andtheexternal
threat/promise
has
collapsed
to zero,'ourbodyis theobjectto be
Goghportrayed
himself
asanother,
outintheworld,
butthefigure
looksback
perceived.
Thenit is no longervirtual
action,
asiftoclaimitsattachment,
from
within
the
accretions
of
paint
as
paintthat
butrealaction,
thatthisspecialised
perception
walks.HenriBergson,
writing
notlongafterwards,
detected
a constitutional
willexpress,
andthisis exactly
whataffection
is.' (pp. 56-7). TheBergsonian
bodystands
ina
instability
inperception,
byvirtue
ofitsrelationship
withaffection
(sensation,
permanently
unstable,
ambivalent
relationship
to
feeling):
ratherthanbeingcontinuous
witheach other- as in previous
itssurroundings,
with'perception'
and
accounts
ofperception
- theydiffered
inkind,coinciding
onlyatthesurface
of
'affection'
naming
fundamental
shifts
in
orientation.
His 'real'and'virtual'
therefore
are
thebody,'theonlyportion
of spacewhichis bothperceived
andfelt';I
polarterms
inthedynamics
ofourrelationship
perceive
things
'wheretheyare,inthemselves
andnotinme',whereas
feeling
to oursurroundings.
(Whatwe might
think
of
is 'in mybody',a function
ofmyrealandnotmyvirtual
actions.50
Painting
as thespatial'realworld',is forBergson
a
projected
basisforpractical
answers
activity,
to thisBergsonian
rather
than
bi-polarism
inso faras itaffords
us,as viewers,
a
beinga pregiven).
shifting
oforientation
whereby
wefind
ourselves
bothwithin
andoutside
what
we see. Baconexploits
thispossibilty
inhisvanGoghseriesbypolarising
the
affective
andperceptual
dimensions
ofhispractice.
Inversion
III,forexample,
theintensity
ofthehuesaround
thecentral
darkness
putstheviewer
inside
the
painting,
as doesthekinaesthetic
appealoftheworked
paint,yetatthesame
timethematerial
surface
obtrudes,
therewhereit is; thefigure,
isolated,
Brendan
Prendeville
stands
thereas anobject(withmarks
ofidentification),
yetinitsisolation
itis
redolent
offeeling
andso hasimmediacy
as wellas remoteness.
Itis a sensate
thing.
51. Theversion
ofAutumn
1888,inthe
Bacon'slaterpaintings
often
evokea verycommon
corporeal
experience
of
Rijksmuseum
Vincent
vanGogh,Amsterdam.
dissonance,
thejarring
sensation
ofarrested
motion,
whenthebody'sweight 52. Antonin
Artaud
(Van GoShle suicidede la
societe
(Edition
K: Paris,1947),pursuing
his
suddenly
throws
itself
against
a movement
ithadbeenhelping
to impel.He
thattherearenofantomes
invanGogh,
wouldfrequently
paintfigures
caught
ina twisting
motion,
without-curving assertion
'no visions,
no hallucinations',
evokesthe
brushstrokes
suggesting
themotionof flesh,thrown
outwardagainstthe
concreteness
ofvanGogh'spractice
and,ina
painting
ofa wheatfield,
theenactment
of
restraint
ofhipsorspine.InthevanGoghseries,
however,
thebodyshapes
are
motif
byreiterative
action:'je repense
amongthemostrigidin Bacon'swork,despitethefluidstrokes
thatdefine repeated
a sonchampde ble:teted'episurteted'epi,et
them,andnothing
hereis thrown
outfromthecontaining
mass,stillless
toutestdit'(p. 48). Artaud
mimics
inwords
vanGogh'spainterly
practice.
VanGoghhad
escaping
entirely,
likeexcrement
or an ejaculation.
Theyare- especially
in
himself
onceequated(written)
signsandseeds:
thecasesofII andIII- stalled
inthemidst
of,andcutoutagainst,
anactivity he
envisaged
placing
a painting
ofa bookshop
whichpassesandsurpasses
them,yetwhichnonetheless
is somehow
their between'anolivegroveanda wheatfield,
the
own.Theyarealsosubstantial
shadows
ontowhich
light
falls,thelitbringing sowingseasonofbooksandprints.'(Quotedby
p. 146).
intoplaya senseofthehidden.Whatdoesnotappearwithin
theboundary Sund,Trueto Temperament,
marked
forappearance
is, surely,
thebody'sunlitmass,itsinertial,
mortal,
intestinal
substance.
Standing
amidtheactionyetwithdrawn
from
it,Bacon's
standing
shadows
nonetheless
recalla different
andveryfamiliar
vanGogh
figure
thatbycontrast
emphatically
doesinitiate
an action,namely
themost
famous
version
of TheSower,contemporary
withtheTarascon
picture,
as I
notedearlier.51
ThisSowerhasa darksexuality,
itsphallic
armthrown
outto
casttheseed.Thereis by comparison
an infertile
phallicism
in theBacon
figures,
although
thepaintstrokes
flowaroundthemas theydo aroundthe
Sower.The reiterative,
ejaculative
acts of painting
- repeatedthrows,
splashes,
chances52
- areseparate
from
thefigure
'inside'them(they
thusboth
resemble
anddiffer
from
thefamous
serialactionphotosofJackson
Pollock,
deadtheyearbefore).
In painting
thesefigures
andtheflowing
paintoftheroad,wet-in-wet,
Baconrealisedanewthe potential
of oil paintto holdin contradictory
combination
theproperties
of solidity
and liquidity,
the inertial
and the
mobile.
Thepaintings
playvariations
onthisdualism.
Ina different
wayineach
version,
thefigure
stalled
against
slipping
fields
ofcolouractsas a pivotfora
reciprocal
movement,
likethatofa tracking
camera,
tended
totheviewer.
In
versions
II andIII,thepainter's
ownpassivestillness
as a witness
before
his
workcastsa shadowacrosshis vehement
agencywithinit. Placingan
apparition
inthepathofpainterly
action,
Baconslippingly
paints
theslipping
placeofselfhood,
initsstrange
otherness.
Separating
actfrom
appearance,
he
frames,
at thecrossing
ofperspectives,
a figure
whosemaleness
is asserted
negatively,
in a venture
ofchance.
I wishtoacknowledge
a grantfrom
theBritish
Academyfor
assistance
withmytravel
in
preparingfor
thisarticle.

Varying the Self: Bacon`s Versions of van Gogh

Transcription

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