Moore Bacon. Ashmolean misses marketing trick for Francis Bacon and Henry Moore exhibition.
The badly titled Bacon Moore exhibition at the Ashmolean in Oxford is the perfect introduction to two of the most exciting and innovative artists of the 60s.
Although there artworks are very different, they're also incredibly similar. They contorted the human body into identifiable messes.
What I know about Henry Moore, I learnt from Alastair Sooke in a BBC Culture Show special about abstractism. I know that he had a rivalry with Barbara Hepworth and was one of the pioneers in British abstract art. And I seem to remember watching something about an abstract bridge that was put on a housing estate in the artist's home town that became a bit of an eyesore so was vandalised and hated by the locals - I think this was Henry Moore, but I can't find anything to either affirm or deny this. Answers on a postcard please!
The Ashmolean nailed its colours to the mast with this section of the exhibition. It was comprehensive, well thought out and provocative.
Each piece of art and sculpture was interspersed with Bacon's and almost overshadowed an apotheosized contemporary. His work is interesting and regardless of its seemingly rugged and lugubrious appearance, his work is playful and lighthearted. It's more of a study into humanity, both physically and metaphysically.
Bacon is one of my favourite artists, not just because he shares a name with a great philosopher and my favourite pig-based meat, but also because his artworks are so dark, painful and melancholic. And it's because of this I found his work the most intriguing of the two.
His colourful life is awe-inspiring. A true bohemian who was brought up in unconventional circumstances (he was born in an Irish nursing home) and was constantly displaced throughout his childhood. He is related to the most splendid and revered aristocracy, including the aforementioned philosopher Francis Bacon, Lord Byron's inspiration for Childe Harold's Pilgrimage Lady Charlotte Harley and a grandfather who refused Queen Victoria's invitation to reclaim the Lord Oxford title. With such pedigree, is it any wonder he went on to become one of Britain's best loved artists?
He lived the transient, impoverished and hedonistic lifestyle expected from an artist. He was also stereotypically tortured. I get the sense from his paintings that he could never be happy, even when happiness was handed to him. He was a self-saboteur who preferred living a life riddled with hardship and pain. And how could blame him, as it was the staple to all his beautifully tortured, raw and emotional paintings.
If I'm honest, although the exhibition at the Ashmolean was good - it really need more Bacon.
Although there artworks are very different, they're also incredibly similar. They contorted the human body into identifiable messes.
Moore
What I know about Henry Moore, I learnt from Alastair Sooke in a BBC Culture Show special about abstractism. I know that he had a rivalry with Barbara Hepworth and was one of the pioneers in British abstract art. And I seem to remember watching something about an abstract bridge that was put on a housing estate in the artist's home town that became a bit of an eyesore so was vandalised and hated by the locals - I think this was Henry Moore, but I can't find anything to either affirm or deny this. Answers on a postcard please!
The Ashmolean nailed its colours to the mast with this section of the exhibition. It was comprehensive, well thought out and provocative.
Each piece of art and sculpture was interspersed with Bacon's and almost overshadowed an apotheosized contemporary. His work is interesting and regardless of its seemingly rugged and lugubrious appearance, his work is playful and lighthearted. It's more of a study into humanity, both physically and metaphysically.
Bacon
Bacon is one of my favourite artists, not just because he shares a name with a great philosopher and my favourite pig-based meat, but also because his artworks are so dark, painful and melancholic. And it's because of this I found his work the most intriguing of the two.
His colourful life is awe-inspiring. A true bohemian who was brought up in unconventional circumstances (he was born in an Irish nursing home) and was constantly displaced throughout his childhood. He is related to the most splendid and revered aristocracy, including the aforementioned philosopher Francis Bacon, Lord Byron's inspiration for Childe Harold's Pilgrimage Lady Charlotte Harley and a grandfather who refused Queen Victoria's invitation to reclaim the Lord Oxford title. With such pedigree, is it any wonder he went on to become one of Britain's best loved artists?
He lived the transient, impoverished and hedonistic lifestyle expected from an artist. He was also stereotypically tortured. I get the sense from his paintings that he could never be happy, even when happiness was handed to him. He was a self-saboteur who preferred living a life riddled with hardship and pain. And how could blame him, as it was the staple to all his beautifully tortured, raw and emotional paintings.
If I'm honest, although the exhibition at the Ashmolean was good - it really need more Bacon.
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