Wild Life

Fascinating exhibition at Ordovas looking at the friendship between Francis Bacon and Peter Beard.

The two men met in 1967 at one of Bacon’s openings at the Marlborough Gallery and the two men became friends and admirers of each other’s work as well as serving as each other’s subjects. Bacon painted nine pictures of Beard from sittings and from photographs that Beard sent him. The show included a lovely double portrait from 1976.

Both men worked from collected and found images, Bacon piling them on the studio floor and Beard collecting them in his diaries and using them in photo collages.

They also shared an interest in conservation. Beard photographer a series of aerial shots of dead elephant carcasses which he layered with other images. A number of these were found in Bacon’s studio. A number of these images were in the show and were shown with correspondence between them.

Closed 16 July 2021

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