Paul-Cezanne-Self-Portrait-in-a-Cap

Paul Cézanne

Self-Portrait in a Cap, c. 1873

Oil on canvas, 53 x 39.7 cm

The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg 2014

The Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, Norwich is currently showing Francis Bacon and the Masters a critically acclaimed exhibition described by Jackie Wullslager in the Financial Times as the “UK’s most stimulating alluring unexpected and insightfully current exhibition”.

On until 26 July Francis Bacon and the Masters brings together a staggering thirty-three Bacon paintings, as well as magnificent works by the artists he most admired. Lent by the world renowned State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg many of these works are on display in the UK for the first time.

In addition to works by the masters including: Titian, Velásquez, Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Cézanne, Matisse and Picasso, the exhibition includes documentary and archive material, including photographs of Bacon’s studio, and palettes, books, catalogues and materials owned by the artist.

30 MASTERPIECES FROM ST PETERSBURG SHOWN IN UK FOR THE FIRST TIME AS PART OF FRANCIS BACON AND THE MASTERS

The major loan includes important works by Picasso, Velazquez, Rodin, Titian and Matisse, as well as outstanding examples of antique Greek, Roman and Egyptian sculpture.

Francis Bacon and the Masters is a ground-breaking exhibition in which Bacon’s obsession with the art of the past will be brought into full focus. A major body of works by the artist will be juxtaposed with masterpieces by some of the greatest painters and sculptors in the history of art, in a spectacular exploration of Bacon’s working methods and ideas.

The exhibition comes to Norwich following its internationally acclaimed opening at the State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, where it marked the culmination of the celebrations for the 250th anniversary of the Hermitage and concluded the UK/Russia Year of Culture.

The founders of the Centre, Robert and Lisa Sainsbury were important early patrons of Francis Bacon. They purchased their first Bacon painting, Study for a Nude, in 1953, and went on to commission their portraits from him. The thirteen Bacon paintings in the Robert and Lisa Sainsbury Collection will form the core group of works in the exhibition but they will be joined by important loans drawn from public and private collections across Britain and Ireland. In all, more than 3o works by the artist will be shown.

The exhibition includes documentary and archive material, including photographs of Bacon’s studio, palettes, books, catalogues and materials owned by the artist and loaned by Dublin City Gallery, The Hugh Lane. Bacon’s preoccupation with the art of the past is vividly revealed in the material drawn from his studio.

The exhibition has been created by a team comprised of guest curator Dr Thierry Morel, curator of the Houghton Revisited exhibition in 2014, Lisa Renne from the

State Hermitage Museum; and from the Sainsbury Centre, Chief Curator, Amanda Geitner and Calvin Winner, Head of Collections.

Speaking of the exhibition, Sainsbury Centre Director, Professor Paul Greenhalgh said:
“Bacon felt intensely close to his painter forebears, the grand masters, and he endlessly made use of them in the search for his own language. Like Picasso, he was an eclectic Modernist, who took what he needed from the art of the past to make it the art of the present. This exhibition is about the use of the past by one of the greatest modern painters: the past re-interpreted and refigured in the psychologically tense, frenetic world of a man searching for meaning at the boundary edge of life”.

A fully illustrated catalogue in English and Russian, with contributions from Dr Margarita Cappock, Calvin Winner, Amanda Geitner, Professor Paul Joannides and Dr Thierry Morel will accompany the exhibition.

Francis Bacon and the Masters

Until 26 July 2015

Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, University of East Anglia, Norwich, NR4 7TJ

£12/£10.50

www.scva.ac.uk

Rembrandt-Harmensz-Van-Rijn-Old-Man-in-an-Armchair

Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn

1606, Leiden – 1669, Amsterdam

Portrait of an Old Man

Oil on canvas, 109 x 85 cm

The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg 2014

Pablo-Picasso-A-young-Lady

Pablo Picasso

A Young Lady, 1909

Oil on canvas, 91 x 72.5 cm

The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg 2014

Francis-Bacon-two-figures-in-a-room-DACS

Francis Bacon

Two Figures in a Room

1959

Oil on canvas; 198 x 142 cm

Robert and Lisa Sainsbury Collection

Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts

© The Estate of Francis Bacon. All rights reserved, DACS 2015.

Francis-Bacon-Portrait-of-Sainsbury-DACS

Francis Bacon

Portrait of R.J. Sainsbury

1955

Oil on canvas; 115 x 99 cm

Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts
© The Estate of Francis Bacon. All rights reserved, DACS 2015. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd

Francis-Bacon-Portrait-of-Isabel-Rawsthorne-DACS

Francis Bacon

Portrait of Isabel Rawsthorne

1966

Oil on canvas; 81.3 x 68.6 cm

Tate Collection

© The Estate of Francis Bacon. All rights reserved, DACS 2015 Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd

Francis-Bacon-head-of-a-man-dacs

Francis Bacon

Head of a Man

1960

Oil on canvas; 38 x 32 cm

Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts

© The Estate of Francis Bacon. All rights reserved, DACS 2015. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd

Francis-Bacon-head-of-a-man-1-dacs

Francis Bacon

Head of a Man

1960

Oil on canvas; 86.4 x 86.4 cm

Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts

© The Estate of Francis Bacon. All rights reserved, DACS 2015. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd

Francis-Bacon-Crucifixion-DACS

Francis Bacon

Crucifixion

1933

Oil on canvas, 62 x 48.5cm

© The Estate of Francis Bacon. All rights reserved, DACS 2015 Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd

Alonso-Cano-The-Crucifixion

Alonso Cano

1601, Granada – 1667, Granada

The Crucifixion

Oil on canvas, 265 x 173 cm

The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg 2014

Chaim-Soutine-self-portrait

Chaïm Soutine 

Self-Portrait. c. 1920–1

Oil on canvas, 54 x 30.5 cm

The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg 2014

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