Francis Bacon: In Conversation with Michel Archimbaud

by Michel Archimbaud, Francis Bacon

Francis Bacon (1909-92) speaks openly to his close friend Michel Archimbaud, whose searching questions shed a new light on Bacon's work. The discussion is wide-ranging, touching on painting, literature and music, with candid revelations about Bacon's childhood, his relationship with his father, his friends and the influences that have shaped his art.

The conversation is punctuated with revealing and sometimes disparaging remarks about a whole host of artists, including, among others, Rubens, Blake, Monet, Cézanne, Picasso, Balthus, Giacometti, Shakespeare and Baudelaire. A most alluring volume on account of its combination of incisive interviews with the painter and extensive images of his studio, Francis Bacon exposes the man behind the myth in a subtle and sensitive manner. The text is both perfectly accessible and intellectually scintillating for anyone, no matter how familiar with the artist and his work.

These interviews can be regarded as Bacon's final vision, as they took place in the artist's studio in Paris between October 1991 and April 1992, shortly before he died. This edition is unique not only in the rarity of the material that it reveals but, moreover, in the distinctly down-to-earth and human outlook it adopts. This book embodies an unparalleled achievement as it succeeds in penetrating beyond the elusive, enigmatic and eccentric persona of artist.

24 colour illustrations, 12 black and white illustrations

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Memoir

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

Reviews

[Miglė · Rating 3 out of 5]

MA: How would you define yourself?
FB: Perhaps by what I don't like.

That's how this book feels at times.

As I've said before, I love Bacon's sober approach to his own work, which I find both refreshing and insightful. But I just don't think that the Archimbaud and Bacon are VIBING at all here. They seem to be talking about different stuff entirely. Maybe their different approaches to art were supposed to highlight the tensions and contrasts in the field? Dunno. I personally think both approaches would be represented better and explored deeper if Archimbaud and Bacon were talking not to each other, but to different people entirely.

MA: And you don't think that the self-portrait is the essence of figure painting?
FB: No, I don't think so. It's a model just like any other. The important thing is always to succeed in grasping something which is constantly changing, and the problem is the same whether it's a self-portrait or a portrait of someone else.

[Kailin Li · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the three part interviews, Michel Archimbaud interviews Francis Bacon - the two have known each other for years - the latter with little regard for decorum. Bacon is direct and honest, especially when it comes to how cinema, music, and literature influence (or rather not) his own paintings. Nope, he doesn't think music and art are comparable. Nope, he doesn't think Beckett and him have much in common. And that's that. I think Archimbaud often pivoted to a new, tangential topic just to keep the conversation flowing, and the interview was more scattered than I expected. If you're looking for Bacon to provide some profound psycho-analysis into his works - it's not here. Instead, you see an unpretentious account of the creative process. Refreshing.

[Cailleach · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have learned that as much as I like his work I would probably not get on with Francis Bacon.

[Gilles · Rating 3 out of 5]

هیچ چیزی از نقاشی نمی فهمم بنابراین نظرات بیکن در مورد فلان نقاش و ... را می پریدم. جایی که میگفت شروع که میکنی، یکهو می بینی اوضاع دارد طبق پیش بینی ها پیش نمی رود، همان غریزه به قول خودش، همان به تسخیر نیرو درامدن به قول دلوز، جالب بود برایم. اثر نه پیش تر در ذهن نقاش ساخته و پرداخته شده بعد روی بوم می آید، بلکه همه چیز با هم پیش می رود، طرحی هست، شروع میکنی، چیزهای جدیدی نمایان می شوند، ادامه میدهی و از ترکیب اینها اثر خلق می شود. و اتفاقا چه با تاکید میگفت که اگر به این غریزه و خلاصه آن الهامی که می آید تن ندهم کار مورد رضایت از آب در نمی اید.

در کتاب حرفی از همجنسگرا بودن مرحوم زده نشده بود که در نوع خود جالب بود

وقتی تابلوی جدیدی را شروع می کنم، فکر و مقصودم، از آنچه قصد انجامش را دارم، مشخص است، منتها حین نقاشی، با توجهی کلی به مواد و عناصر عرصه ی تصویری، یکباره اشکال و سویه هایی پدید می ایند که اصلا قابل پیش بینی نبوده اند. منظور من از حادث و تصادفی این چیز هاست

امیدوار بودم کتاب نقاشی های بیشتری می داشت. تنها 4 5 تا داشت

کوتاه بود ولی ماهیت مصاحبه گونه ی کتاب و نیز برخی حرفهای بیکن که فهمیدمشان تجربه ی خوبی را رقم زد و 3 دادم.

[Shakyba · Rating 5 out of 5]

کتاب را یکی از دوستانم بهم داد تا بخوانم تا پیشنیازی باشد برای خواندن کتابی‌که به تحلیل آثار این نقاش می‌پردازد. چاپ اول سال ۱۳۸۰

کتاب گفتگو وار که در سه بخش بود و نکات جالبی درش بود از نظرات و عقیده‌های این هنرمند نقاش پیرامون افراد و موضوعات و الهام‌بخش در مواردی.

[Judicael Deguergue · Rating 5 out of 5]

Entering the mind of such a disruptive artist of the twentieth century. My favorite part might when F. Bacon demystify the violent in his work -inexistant for him- comparing to the level of violence life could bring us at that time.

“Dans un sens les Picasso que j’aime sont violents, mais pas par leur sujet, ils sont violents par les couleurs et les formes qu’ils emploient, et c’est parce que c’est tableaux là sont tellement remarquablement fait qu’on peut dire d’une certaine manière qu’ils sont violents. Ils sont violent par l’incroyable charge émotionnelle qu’ils produisent, et c’est une violence magnifique.” P.125

[Ioana · Rating 3 out of 5]

What I didn't like was the interviewer and the questions he asked. I had, on multiple occasions, the feeling that he didn't really understand what Bacon was saying and he kept going on with the same question. He also didn't seem to listen carefully, asked things Bacon had already answered (and Bacon mentions it at times) and was mostly preoccupied to go through a list of prepared questions.

[Margaux Tatin Blanc]

Strange guy Bacon... strange paintings... so interesting but even his most famous biographer admits he would not want to have one on the wall of his apartment...
Went to see the exhibition with a sophisticated friend who asked a lot of good questions and I gave him the book as he truly deserved it probably more than I did...

[James Duffy · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting read for anyone interested in Bacon and his creative process. As other reviews mention, it is less about his works and their backgrounds (he plainly admits he doesn’t think anyone can successfully talk about paintings) and more focused on his creative process and his inspirations. Reads a lot like a magazine interview and has some great color plates of his works.

[Jim Johanson · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is just a cash-grab, made after Bacon's death. They took three short interviews which are largely devoid of substance and printed them on only the lower halves of each page in order to make the book long enough to sell. Nothing of value to be found here.

[Maurizio Manco · Rating 3 out of 5]

"La violenza che apre su qualcosa è rara, ma alle volte è ciò che può verificarsi in arte; le immagini fanno esplodere il vecchio ordine, e nulla allora rimane come prima." (p. 71)

[Vega Royer · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 a bit disappointed

[Sage · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some very interesting viewpoints on all sorts of things that I had never considered. I don’t agree with a lot of what he said but found it inspiring as an artist to look at his perspectives.

[Dorsa Dehroyeh · Rating 3 out of 5]

جالب و روون بود.
و از شخصیت بیکن، متکی بودنش به غریزه، و بی‌نظمی جالب بود.

[Motoaki Osone · Rating 4 out of 5]

The way FB answers is always solid and ironical but also passionate, which resembles his works.

[Phil · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very slight volume, overselling itself as a book, really. Even the plates are too small to contribute much to the content, which consists in three interviews with the artist, the last being the final one he ever gave.

Nevertheless, and in the light of Michael Peppiatt's magisterial "Francis Bacon in Your Blood", which I read a few weeks ago, this is an invaluable sidelight on this most important painter's attitudes and working methods. One very impressive thing about Bacon is his utter lack of pretension, intellectual or otherwise. Another is his total honesty about the work he likes and dislikes: although he was plainly very well-versed in art history and the work of his contemporaries and predecessors, he never allowed himself to be led by fashion or the desire to set himself up as anything other than a working artist.

These are three quite short exchanges, but they cover a lot of ground - Bacon's views on art, music, literature etc - in a clear, succinct and authentic voice. We are lucky to have such a document of one of the most important artists of the age.

[Conrad frankel · Rating 4 out of 5]

good late interviews, better than those awful sylvester ones

[Stephan Ferreira · Rating 3 out of 5]

A series of conversations, translated from French, with Francis Bacon leading up to his death in 1992.

[Jeffrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating series of conversations that took place shortly before Bacon's death in 1992 - as complex and multi-faceted as his paintings!