Francis Bacon on the Steps of London's Tate Gallery, 1985

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John Minihan , Irish, b.1946

Title

Date2021

MediumGelatin silver print

Dimensions

61 × 50.8 cm

Credit LinePurchased, 2021

Object numberNGI.2021.121

DescriptionMinihan first met Francis Bacon outside the Marlborough Magistrate's court in 1971. The artist had been acquitted on drug charges. Over the next 20 years, Minihan photographed Bacon in London, and at his invitation, in Paris for his show at the Clause Bernard Gallery in 1977. Minihan recalls that Bacon was courteous to those who knew him, and respected photography, which is the salient influence in much of his work. In the early 70s when Bacon was at the height of his fame, his most important collaboration was with the photographer John Deakin. Bacon loved looking at books about photography, notably the pioneering photographer Eadweard Muybridge who produced the first serial photographs of human and animals in motion. Some of his most memorable photographs of Bacon were made at the artist’s 1985 retrospective at Tate Britain, including Francis Bacon photographed on the steps of the Tate Gallery, London, 1985.
Inscriptiontitle, date, © John Minihan
ProvenancePurchased, 2021