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Peter Hill Beard , North American, 1938-2020

Title

Francis Bacon, 80 Narrow Street, London

Date1972

MediumVintage gelatin silver print

Dimensions

8 x 7 cm

Credit LinePurchased, 2019

Object numberNGI.2019.226

DescriptionPeter Beard first met Francis Bacon in 1965 at the launch of Beard's first book 'The End of the Game' in London. The two became friends and collaborated on multiple occasions, both artists creating portraits of one another. Beard’s images of African wildlife deeply impressed Bacon who particularly admired his aerial photographs of dead elephants. The photographer’s documentation of the slaughter of elephants and rhinos are stunningly moving and sad epitaphs to a fading world and some might say including Beard, a prediction of our own human fate.

Here, Bacon is depicted on the rooftop of his studio in London above the River Thames. Seeking inspiration from his sitter’s expressionist style, Beard employs a long exposure to capture the motion blur of Bacon’s head turning, which in turn results in the obscuring of the artist’s facial features. Many of Bacon’s portraits of Beard also distort the artist’s face and are set against backdrops that are often bare. During their friendship Francis Bacon painted nine major portraits of Peter Beard.