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High On The Hog

Figure Painting

by Callen Bair and Felix Salmon
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Sep 20 2007 12:00am EDT

High on the Hog

Francis Bacon paintings are coming out of the woodwork for fall sales in New York and across the pond.

Stateside, Sotheby's is offering two Bacon paintings in its evening sale of contemporary art on November 14th. Study for Bullfight No. 1, 2nd Version is expected to bring more than $35 million, and Self Portrait, more than $15 million. Both works come from the same private collection in Europe.

Study for Bullfight No. 1, 2nd Version (top) depicts a bull and its human taunter against a curved background, a pictorial device characteristic of some of Bacon's work (see Version No. 2 of Lying Figure with Hypodermic Syringe). The artist completed this piece in 1969, when he was working in a studio let to him by London's Royal College of Art. Self Portrait (bottom), also dated 1969, is a grotesque interpretation of the artist's visage.

Later today, we figure out why and how the market for Bacon's work has seen such a dramatic upswing in recent seasons.

8363%20Bacon%20Bullfight.jpg
Photo Credit: Sotheby's
8363%20Bacon%20Self%20Portrait.jpg
Photo Credit: Sotheby's

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