All About Triptych – August 1972 by Francis Bacon

Title of Artwork: “Triptych – August 1972”

Artwork by Francis Bacon

Year Created 1972

Summary of Triptych – August 1972

Three panels in Triptych – August 1972 (1972) by Francis Bacon portray male individuals in a household scene. Artworks by Bacon that use the triptych format include Three Studies for a Crucifixion (1944), Three Studies for a Crucifixion (1962), and Study for three heads (1964). (1962).

By separating and juxtaposing the characters in a three-part composition, Bacon was able to minimise the narrative characteristics of his paintings.

All About Triptych – August 1972

The centre panel depicts two bodies entwined, which is possibly a depiction of homosexuality. The middle panel’s concept is comparable to that of a previous painting Triptych – Studies from the Human Body (1970), which depicts similar organic forms merging into one. He remarked that he sought to create an image that “coagulated this impression of two persons in some type of sexual act on the bed” when discussing the topic in Triptych – Studies from the Human Body. ‘ When painting Triptych in August 1972, it is possible he had the same aims (1972).

Adapting the position from one of his favourite photographic sources, Eadweard Muybridge’s sequential pictures published in The Human Figure in Motion, Bacon created this warped image. Photographs by Bacon are regarded as a “dictionary of human motion” in the book. Paintings from the 1950s, like the two pictured above, were based on the same set of images (1954). Figures eventually lose their distinct identities in all of Bacon’s works, culminating in the triptychs.

Along with the paintings In Memory of George Dyer (1971) and Triptych, Period between May and June 1973 (1973) is referred to as ‘The Black Triptychs’ (referring to the black backgrounds of the paintings).

This set of works is clearly a reaction by Bacon to the suicide in 1971 of his former lover and model, George Dyer. In spite of this, some argue that this category is incorrect or incomplete. A look at other works from the same period, such as Figure in Movement and Three Studies of Figures on Beds, reveals that Bacon didn’t think of the Black Triptychs as a series at the time of Dyer’s death.

The first critic to identify the grouping, Hugh Davies, later changed his mind and now claims that Triptych, March 1974 (1974) is the final triptych in the series, rather than Triptych itself. May and June 1973.

There is no proof that Bacon intended for these works to be read in order, therefore. In Triptych August 1972, Bacon stated that he utilised black for the background for aesthetic reasons rather than symbolic ones.

Information Citations

En.wikipedia.org, https://en.wikipedia.org/.