Francis Bacon, acknowledged as one of the most important painters of the figure in the second half of the twentieth century, was tenacious in keeping his working drawings secret. When asked, he simply denied making any - adding on one occasion: ‘I often think I should.’

More than forty such works on paper by Bacon, together with related archival papers, are now in the Tate Gallery collection. This catalogue, published to accompany their display, provides the first detailed examination of this unknown aspect of his output. Reasons for the artist’s secrecy are suggested in David Sylvester’s introductory essay. The sketches themselves are then discussed in depth by Matthew Gale, who considers their place in Bacon’s output and traces their relationships with sources and completed paintings.

More than half a century has passed since Francis Bacon’s Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion, 1944 was first shown at the Lefevre Gallery in London. The triptych, showing semi-human figures in an oppressive orange setting, was greeted by a mixture of consternation and disgust. It heralded Bacon’s reputation for the unflinching depiction of the anxieties of the modern condition. This precarious situation seemed to be reflected in the daily existence of the painter himself, living between marginal worlds of high society and bohemian Soho, gambling and homosexuality. Nevertheless, Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion won official acceptance for Bacon - albeit as enfant terrible - after it was given to the Tare Gallery by his friend Eric Hall in 1953. This initiated a long relationship with the Gallery distinguished by the unusual occurrence of two major retrospectives, in 1962 and I985, and culminating in the artist’s gift in 1991 of his reworking of the early painting as Second Version of Triptych 1944, 1988...

Foreword

Bacon’s Secret Vice

DAVID SYLVESTER

Francis Bacon: Working on Paper

MATTHEW GALE

Plates

Catalogue List and a Note about Sequences

Notes and Acknowledgements

Appendix