Lydia Tee VA 3.

3 22 July 2011
How Has Francis Bacon Articulated Issues of Identity and Culture
Specific to His Experiences by Exploring the Body as a Subject
Matter?

Francis Bacon grew up in an Irish family background in the early 1900s. He
grew up in an environment where he constantly questioned issues of
identity, religion, leadership, and humanism, the establishments of his
childhood. Often in his work he portrays studies of the human being
contorted and distorted; horrific imagery that create a physical reaction in
viewers. Using one of his works as reference, Study After Velazquezs
Portrait of Pope Innocent X, 1953, we will see how Francis Bacon addresses
the issues that he has always questioned.

Bacon is very much obsessed in this image of the Pope. This painting is
one out of the forty-five other variations that Bacon has done. Bacon used
photos and reproductions as references for the series of works leading up
to this painting. This painting is based on the original portrait of the Pope
by Spanish painter Diego Velazquez. Other influences include Picasso,
whose works Bacon first saw his exhibition in 1927. Another source of
influence on Bacon that we can see here is the still image of the screaming
Nurse in Sergei Eisensteins silent film The Battleship Potemkin, which he
first saw in 1935. We can observe and infer how Bacon has been
influenced in creating the horror and surreal distortion in his work.


In Bacons painting, the subject in this painting is the horrific image of the
screaming Pope, seen seated on a high backed chair depicted by yellow
Francis Bacon
Study After Velzquezs Portrait of Pope Innocent
X
1953
Oil on Canvas
Diego Velzquez
Portrait of Pope Innocent
X
1650
lines. We see that the Pope dons a purple cape over white garments
underneath. The background is covered with uneven dark lines that are
cascading down, and through, the Popes face. The lines creates a dark
void around the subject. At the bottom of the painting, more dynamic
lines are seen flaring towards the viewer. The colours of the Pope and
chair stand out on the dark background.

These colours resemble a film negative. In a negative, the lighter shades
are actually the darkest in the original image, but this is not in reference to
Velaquezs painting. Here, Bacon uses the ghostly colours and the horrific
imagery to evoke and suggest a raw emotion in the Pope. Where the
purple and yellow are used, it makes the atmosphere and subject surreal.
He could be implying how this image of the Pope is his dark sideof his
personality, whether the Pope is always the identity of the saint that we
know of.

Bacon was an overt atheist and questioned religion and the churchs
authority. We know that the Pope would be one of the most influencial
people of his time. However, the painting was not done realistically and
the cascading lines and scream on his face is horrifying. The lines pierce
the Popes face and he is excruciating in pain. From lack of important facial
details and distorting the image of the Pope in this way, it makes us see
how Bacon questioned what the image of a person of high authority
should be like.
From another perspective, the black lines resemble the drapes behind the
Pope in Velazquezs painting. In Bacons version, the drapes pass through
the Popes face like curtains. While the lines draw our attention to the
subject, they constantly obstruct our complete view of the Pope. Bacon
could be implying how the Pope has emotions that he supresses behind
the curtains, but Bacon tells us it cannot be totally concealed. What we see
may not be how he actually is; again, he questions the reliability of the
Pope.

Francis Bacon addressed themes that were seen as taboo, and he brought
these issues to light. Bacon has, as shown, through the medium of painting
and through the studies of the subject of the Pope addressed issues of
religious culture as well as the issue of ones darker identity. As Francis
Bacon himself once said, The job of the artist is always to deepen the
mystery. If you can talk about it, why paint it?
Bibliography:
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Siblings, Time." Encyclopedia of World Biography. Web. 22 July 2011.
<http://www.notablebiographies.com/Ba-Be/Bacon-Francis.html>.

Jones, Jonathan. "How Francis Bacon's Art Tells the Brutal Truth about a Bloody Century |
Culture | The Guardian." Latest News, Comment and Reviews from the Guardian |
Guardian.co.uk. Web. 22 June 2011.
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2005/aug/09/edinburghfestival2005.edinburghfestival1>.

Acevedo, Beatriz. "The Screaming Pope: Imagery and Leadership in Two Paintings of the
Pope Innocent X." Leadership 1st ser. 7.27-50 (2011). Leadership. Web. 22 June 2011.
<http://lea.sagepub.com/content/7/1/27.abstract>.

Arya, R. "Painting the Pope: An Analysis of Francis Bacon's Study After Velazquez's Portrait
of Innocent X." Literature and Theology 23.1 (2008): 33-50. Print.
"Francis Bacon - Portraits of Anxiety and Alienation." Free Art Lessons - Learn How to
Draw, Paint and Design. Web. 24 July 2011.
<http://www.artyfactory.com/art_appreciation/portraiture/bacon/francis_bacon.htm>.