The book offers a personal exploration of the Hugh Lane Gallery's extensive collection, showcasing art from the mid-19th century to contemporary pieces. Established in 1908, this gallery is the oldest public modern art gallery still in operation, reflecting a significant cultural milestone in Modern Ireland, inspired by the Irish Literary Revival. Director Barbara Dawson curates the highlights, emphasizing the gallery's philanthropic spirit and its role as a vital cultural institution in Dublin.
No artist's studio rivals Francis Bacon's in terms of sheer iconic pungency. The artist's furious hurricanes of creativity were writ large upon its walls, scattered across its floors in a sea of paint pots, brushes, discarded canvases and much-abused source and reference materials, all of which seemed to bespeak Bacon's chaotically rigorous processes: bodybuilding snaps, reproductions of Muybridge time-lapse sequences, photo-booth self-portraits, magazine cuttings, tattered monographs, medical textbooks with images of unusual and often horrific wounds and diseases, and countless photos of friends such as Lucian Freud, John Deakin, Isabel Rawsthorne, Muriel Belcher and George Dyer, from which the artist built his portraits of them. Bacon's exceptional eloquence on the subject of his painting process, taken in combination with the iconicity and visual impact of his studio, enables his admirers to envisage something of how his paintings were made. In celebration of the centenary of Bacon's birth, and chiming with an exhibition at the Dublin City Gallery, A Terrible Beauty excavates Bacon's studio to reveal the methods, materials and processes through which Bacon arrived at his paintings.
Hardcover in good condition. Signed and dedicated by Fergus Martin on title page. Published for the exhibition at the Dublin City Gallery, 10th October 2008 to 11th January 2009. Superficial marks and light scores on boards. Spine ends, lower edges and lower leading corners are lightly bumped. Leading corners are very lightly worn. Pages are clean and contents are clear throughout. Binding is sound. HCW
