Francis Bacon at the BBC

Synopsis: The BBC Archive celebrates the life and work of Francis Bacon, one of the 20th Century’s greatest artists. This collection is inspired by the retrospective of Bacon’s work at Tate Britain.

Complete programmes, excerpts and documents charting Francis Bacon’s BBC television and radio appearances, from the early 1960s until shortly before his death in 1992, presented as a collection to coincide with Tate Britain’s 2008 retrospective of Bacon’s work. The artist discusses his influences, his best-known paintings and his opinions of other artists, while art experts and historians explain the background to his vision. Includes an 18-minute interview recorded for a pilot of a live arts discussion programme that was never broadcast. In this excerpt, Julian Jebb interviews Francis Bacon about his contemporaries in the art world, his working practices and his personal philosophies, such as his belief that true abstract painting is nothing more than ‘lyrical, charming and decorative’.
Language: English
Country: Great Britain
Year of production: 1963 onwards
Subjects: Art
Keywords: archive television; Bacon, Francis (1909-1992); modern art

This record has been viewed 804 times.

British Universities Film & Video Council