FRANCIS BACON DVD & VIDEO RESOURCES 1. BACONS ARENA Format DVD Genre Special Interest / Documentary Running 95 mins Time Aspect TBC Ratio Languages English (Dolby Digital 2.0) Rating M Available 20-05-2009 Label Madman Entertainment Sourced Australia SYNOPSIS: Francis Bacon (1909-1992) is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest painters of the twentieth century. This special edition DVD has been created to mark the centenary of his birth (2009) and is produced in association with the Estate of Francis Bacon. The film was nominated for an international Emmy, and is widely acclaimed as the definitive biographical documentary on Francis Bacon. Special Features: Interview with director Adam Low Reece Mews: A documentary about the dismantling and moving of Bacon's studio from London to Dublin In Camera: A short film about Francis Bacon and photography Interview: David Sylvester with Fracis Bacon Artwork Gallery: A selection of Bacon's paintings filmed on location at the Tate Gallery in London, The Musee Maillol in Paris and the Galerie Beyler in Basel. AVAILABLE @: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bd2fDCnYVtc&feature=plcp (9 part video) JB HI FI $23.99 (Special Order) REVIEWS: Greg Hassall, reviewer March 1, 2008 http://www.smh.com.au/news/tv-reviews/bacons-arena/2008/02/29/1204226967654.html Born in Ireland to British parents, Francis Bacon was a hard-drinking homosexual with a taste for rough sex who produced some of the 20th century's most striking paintings. He's the ideal subject for a documentary and this doesn't disappoint. It is beautifully constructed, with a haunting score by Brian Eno, and deserved its nomination for an International Emmy in 2005. Director Adam Low takes a largely chronological approach to Bacon's life and career, combining movie clips, interviews with family and friends, archival footage of Bacon and, of course, plenty of shots of his work. Throughout, there is a recurring motif of bullfighting, presumably to signify the violence and carnality of Bacon's work as well as his prodigious sexual appetite and preference for dangerous men. In many of the interviews, Bacon is argumentative and drunk but he is always charismatic. This documentary doesn't shy away from his faults but ultimately paints a portrait of a hard-living man who was comfortable with his lifestyle and took excess and success in his stride. CLASSROOM USE: This film provides an in-depth insight into Bacon’s artists practice, but also provides students with an understanding of the context in which Bacon’s works were created. The film delves into many aspects of Bacon’s world including his cultural upbringing and experiences, his family and personal relationships as well as the major events that were happening in the world around him that impacted on his artmaking. A great way to start a unit of work on Bacon or simply to introduce the artist to students before heading off to the exhibition. The film is a comprehensive resource to explore questions and discussions on the artists practice and the conceptual framework. The only reservation about the film would be that it is 90 minutes in length, moving quite slowly in chronological order and the narration lacks the enthusiasm required for our target audience, which in turn could make it difficult to keep students (particularly juniors) engaged if viewed in full. 2. FRANCIS BACON Actors: Francis Bacon, Melvyn Bragg Directors: David Hinton Format: Color, NTSC Language: English Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Number of discs: 1 Rated: NR (Not Rated) Studio: Image Entertainment DVD Release Date: March 6, 2001 Run Time: 55 minutes Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars SYNOPSIS: Since his death in 1992, Arena is the only broadcaster to be granted exclusive permission by the Estate of Francis Bacon to make a film about his life. Bacon's paintings are some of the most vivid, haunting and ferocious in art history, and his life was as outrageous as his art. The film is saturated with Bacon's forceful presence, his imperious and seductive voice - a testament to the unparalleled range and originality of Bacon's insights into his own work. Even more appreciated abroad than in Britain, Bacon is revealed as a global phenomenon. The documentary extends far beyond the Soho caricature of the Bacon legend, featuring visits to Paris, Madrid, Tangier, Ireland and New York. Contributors include Bacon's sister Ianthe and those closest to him, and the programme features original music by Brian Eno. AVAILABLE @: http://www.youtube.com/user/theartroom1/videos?query=bacon REVIEWS: www.amazon.com/Francis-Bacon July 26, 2009 Brought to you by the BBC what you get is a 50 minute look at the enigmatic painter, good interviewing job by Melvyn Bragg, view some of Bacon's paintings, and go along with Bragg and Bacon to the messy studio and his favourite hangouts. They say he could be very dark, his moods shifting unpredictably, and that the closer you got the more inevitable the darkness. But Bacon could also be upbeat and a real pleasure and that side is present in the film. He candidly answers questions about various aspects of his work and life, offers views on other painters (loves Van Gogh, loathes abstract expressionism), but doesn't analyse his paintings. What's there is there. Nothing to be said of it. I myself can understand how his paintings of meat and twisted bodies and screaming popes could shock people in the 1940s because these images are still unsettling. Good art lasts. CLASSROOM USE: This film will provide the class with an understanding of Bacon’s cultural upbringing and life before becoming an artist within the first five minutes, although brief in comparison to “Bacon’s Arena” it moves at a much faster pace and should engage the target audience with a much more direct and personal viewpoint presented via in depth interviews with the artist himself. The film then travels into analysing Bacon’s artworks, the artist offers very subjective and truthful insights into his concepts, subjects, intentions and material practice. We also see Bacon’s sometimes brutal opinion on the work of other artists. We are later taken into Bacon’s studio and home, again with the artist providing an in depth discussion of his process, practice and inspiration. This documentary paints a very clear picture of Bacon’s artmaking practice and could be used to facilitate discussion on the artist’s studio, process, subjects, concepts, influences, material practice and techniques, as well as the interrelationships between the artist, his work, world and the audience. 3. FRANCIS BACON A TERRIBLE BEAUTY Francis Bacon A Terrible Beauty Centenary Exhibition 28th October 2009 - 7th March 2010 Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane Promotional Film by Feenish Productions for more information go to: http://www.hughlane.ie Run time: 8.08 SYNOPSIS: This short clip was created as a promotional film for the Bacon Centenary Exhibition at The Hugh Lane Dublin City Gallery in 2009. A Terrible Beauty provides a brief insight into Bacon’s world, discussing and showing footage of the artist’s chaotic studio and his various sources of inspiration. We are offered a glimpse into the artist’s practice, in particular his way of thinking and creating figurative art. The relocation and conservation of Bacon’s studio to the Dublin City Gallery is also explored in this short film. AVAILABLE @: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xM1eeKHNrE4&feature=related CLASSROOM USE: This short clip could be used as the basis for an artmaking activity in the classroom accompanied by a series of images of Bacon’s figurative works. The focus on this practical task would be Bacon’s use of photographic images as a source of inspiration for his artmaking as explored in the film. In a practical activity students would discover the way the artist folded, tore and dissected photographic portraits as a starting point for creating his twisted, deformed and distorted figurative paintings in turn creating their own Bacon inspired artworks. Students would begin with photographic style portraits (from newspaper, magazines or photocopies) and dissect and rearrange them to make new disfigured but recognisable forms. They could then use these images as the starting point for a figurative painting, or collage and paint over the images themselves. Throughout this artmaking activity, references and links could be paralleled to the artist’s process and techniques as explored through the short film and exemplified in his artworks. Books on Francis Bacon Interviews with Francis Bacon (Paperback) By (author) David Sylvester, 1988 $20.45 It has also been seen as the most revealing portrait that exists of one of the most singular artistic personalities of our time. Bacon's obsessive thinking about how to remake the human form in pain finds unique expression in his encounters with the distinguished art writer David Sylvester over a period of twenty-five years. In these masterfully and creatively reconstructed interviews, Sylvester has provided unparalleled access to the thought, work, and life of one of the creative geniuses of our century. Book depository http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/Interviews-with- Francis-Bacon-David-Sylvester/9780500274750 Francis Bacon: The Logic of Sensation (Continuum Impacts) (Paperback) By (author) Gilles Deleuze, 2006 $21.38 Francis Bacon is Deleuze's long-awaited work on Bacon, widely regarded as the one of the most radical painters of the twentieth century. The book presents a deep engagement with Bacon's work and the nature of art. Deleuze analyses the distinctive innovations that came to mark Bacon's style while introducing a number of his own famous concepts. Book Depository http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/Francis-Bacon- Gilles-Deleuze/9780826479303 Francis Bacon (Hardback) Edited by Matthew Gale, Edited by Chris Stephens, 2009 $21.90 Francis Bacon's style was so personal and distinctive that his influence lay more in the intensity of his commitment to art itself than in any direct stylistic legacy.