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Portrait of John Edwards
Portrait of John Edwards

Portrait of John Edwards

Artist (1909 - 1992)
Date2002
MediumLithograph on paper
DimensionsFramed: 104.5 × 83 × 3.5 cm
ClassificationsPrint
Credit LineCollection & image © Hugh Lane Gallery. Donated by John Edwards, 2003. © The Estate of Francis Bacon. All rights reserved/DACS.
Object number1969
DescriptionEdition of 50, numbered 27/50
Donated in September 2003 by John Edwards
This is a lithographic print of the painting 'Portrait of John Edwards', 1988.


It shows a man (John Edwards) seated on a wicker chair in white underwear. His right leg is crossed over his left and his arms appear to be totally fused with his torso. His body is facing the viewer, while his looks towards the right. There is a black rectangle behind the sitter and he is casting a pink, flesh coloured shadow.

'The painting is typical of the austerity and starkness and stillness that inform Bacon's figure-paintings of the 1980s. Often they reflect the influences of Ingres; indeed, Bacon painted several pictures at this time which were based directly on works by Ingres. The present canvas is perhaps the finest of Bacon's several full-length images of John Edwards.'

Source: Catalogue entry by David Sylvester in 'Francis Bacon in Dublin', Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery of Modern Art, Dublin, 2000, p. 118.
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