Bacon and the Mind: Art, Neuroscience and Psychology

Francis Bacon Studies #1

by Christopher Bucklow (contributor), Steven Jaron (Contributor), Darian Leader (Contributor)

The first in a series of books that sheds new light on Francis Bacon's art and motivations, published under the aegis of the Estate of Francis Bacon Bacon and the Mind sheds light on Francis Bacon’s art by exploring his motivations, and in so doing opens up new ways of understanding his paintings. It comprises five essays by prominent scholars in their respective disciplines, illustrated throughout by Bacon’s works. Christopher Bucklow argues compellingly that Bacon does not depict the reality of his subjects, but rather their reality for him―in his memory, in his sensibility, and in his private world of sensations and ideas. Steven Jaron’s essay questions the psychological implications of Bacon’s habitual language, his obsession with “the wound,” vulnerability, and the nervous system. Darian Leader’s essay “Bacon and the Body,” presents the latest of his fresh and stimulating insights into the artist. The focus in John Onians’s “Francis A Neuroarthistory” is the effect of Bacon’s unconscious mental processes in the creation of his paintings. “The ‘Visual Shock’ of Francis An Essay in Neuroaesthetics” is a newly edited and now fully illustrated re-presentation of an article by Semir Zeki, previously accessible only as an online academic paper. 100 illustrations

Genres: Art

160 pages, Paperback

Published September 17, 2019

Reviews

[HonleyPooh · Rating 5 out of 5]

As long admirer of Bacon Art, also scientific and passionate by Psychology or Psychanalyse interpretation of artwork such as littérature and Cinema, this Book was a delight to read.
There’s 5 essay on Bacon art analysing it by different approach : none is the ultimate truth but each is solid and well presented.
I’ve learned a lot, and with beautiful reproduction, it was a mind and vision wonder !