Title
Francis Bacon in his StudioDate1985
MediumVintage gelatin silver print
Dimensions
Image: 37.8 x 19 cm
Credit LinePurchased, 2019
Object numberNGI.2019.177
DescriptionDescribed as an "English Cartier-Bresson" by Lord Snowdon, Jane Bown started her photographic career in 1949 when her portrait of British philosopher and Nobel laureate, Bertrand Russell appeared in The Observer. Bown is admired for her straightforward, naturally posed, black and white portraits, usually taken with available light. She has photographed some of the world’s most notable actors, writers, artists and politicians including Samuel Beckett, Francis Bacon, Margaret Thatcher, and Queen Elizabeth II. In 1995 she was awarded a CBE for her outstanding contribution to photography. Bown is represented by 6 works in total in the NGI collection.Francis Bacon (1909-1992) was an Irish-born figurative painter known for his emotionally charged raw imagery and fixation on personal motifs. Best known for his depictions of religious subjects and portraits of close friends, his abstracted figures are typically isolated in geometrical cages, which give them a vague three-dimensional depth, set against flat, nondescript backgrounds. Bown photographed the painter in his chaotic London studio and home in 1985. She wrote of photographing the artist, "The studio was a complete mess, cobwebs and dirt and paint everywhere, and crammed with paintings. I was rather frightened of him, I think, but what a face!"