CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 7/18/2018

Blurring and deformation in 'Bacon / Giacometti'

Francis Bacon's "Portrait of Michael Leiris" (1976) is reproduced from Bacon / Giacometti, published to accompany the Beyeler Foundation's current exhibition. "Bacon's process of blurring and deformation, especially in the treatment of heads, is similar to the sculptural method of Giacometti," Ulf Küster writes. "Both artists manipulated the model's appearance and left his or her individuality in doubt. That the resulting portraits may be more honest than if the artists had striven for greater verisimilitude is one thing; the other is that, by making their working processes visible, Bacon and Giacometti drew attention to the importance of their individual form of artistic expression, which—in portraits too—is always in the forefront."