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Head of Francis Bacon, Study No 6 (Head & Teeth)
Head of Francis Bacon, Study No 6 (Head & Teeth)
Head of Francis Bacon, Study No 6 (Head & Teeth)

Head of Francis Bacon, Study No 6 (Head & Teeth)

Artist (Luton, England, born 1940)
Sitter (Dublin, Ireland, 1909 - 1992)
Date1978
Mediumbrass
ClassificationsSculptures
DimensionsOverall: Height: 37 cm, Width: 19.5 cm, Depth: 23.5 cm
Plinth Size: Height: 136.8 cm, Width: 61 cm, Depth: 61 cm
AcquisitionPurchased in 1978 with assistance from the National Fund for Acquisitions and with income from the Macdonald Bequest.
Copyright© Whitford Fine Art, London (2007)
LocationOn Display - Gallery 01
Object numberABDAG000189
About MeThis is one in a series of twelve portraits which Clive Barker created of his friend, Francis Bacon. Bacon also executed three studies of Clive Barker.

Barker's images are only sometimes 'portraits' in the accepted sense. Most are about Bacon rather than of him. Using casts from a real set of teeth and ribbed tubing for the windpipe Barker distorts and reinvents his sitter. It is as if Bacon's own violent imagery has had an impact on Barker's interpretation and is fighting its way out of these calm, almost classic heads, creating an uncomfortable and entirely convincing tension.

More About Me
Doesn't it look like C3PO from Star Wars?
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