The literature on Bacon is large and ever expanding. In the decade following his death the uncovering of drawings by the artist, the rediscovery of paintings previously lost or presumed destroyed, and the reconstruction of his studio in Dublin have stimulated a reassessment of his output and working procedures. They have also prompted a growing number of studies, articles and exhibitions. No recent catalogue raisonné exists for the artist; the last such undertaking was published in 1964. This bibliography has been devised to take account of recent developments in Bacon studies, but at most can only give a flavour of past and current critical attitudes towards the painter.
More extensive bibliographies can be found in Dawn Ades and Andrew Forge, Francis Bacon, exhibition catalogue, London: Tate Gallery, 1985 and Fabrice Hergott, Francis Bacon, exhibition catalogue, Paris: Centre Georges Pompidou, Editions du Centre Pompidou, 1996, Francis Bacon, exhibition catalogue, Museu Serralves, Porto, 2003 and more recently Francis Bacon, exhibition catalogue, Tate Publishing, London, 2008
Ades, Dawn, and Andrew Forge. Francis Bacon. Exhibition catalogue, London: Tate Gallery, Thames & Hudson, and New York: Abrams, 1985.
Alley, Ronald. ‘Francis Bacon’s Place in Twentieth-Century Art’, Chiappini, Francis Bacon, 1993, pp. 15-30.
Alley, Ronald and John Rothenstein. Francis Bacon. Introductory essay by Rothenstein, catalogue raisonné by Alley. London: Thames & Hudson, and New York: Viking Press, 1964.
Alphen, Ernst Van. Francis Bacon and the Loss of Self. London: Reaktion Books Ltd., 1992.
Archimbaud, Michel. Francis Bacon: Entretiens avec Michel Archimbaud. Paris: J.-C. Lattes, 1992. English translation, Francis Bacon: In conversation with Michel Archimbaud, London: Phaidon Press, 1993.
Baldassari, Anne. Bacon Picasso: The Life of Images, Paris 2005
Brighton, Andrew. Francis Bacon. London: Tate Gallery, 2001
Calvocoressi, Richard/Hammer, Martin. Portraits and Heads. Exhibition catalogue, National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, 2005
Cappock, Margarita. ‘‘A Clear Compositional Link’: Francis Bacon’s Works on Paper’, Irish Arts Review Yearbook 2002: Vol.18, pp.153-163.
Chiappini, Rudy. Francis Bacon. Exhibition catalogue, Lugano: Museo d’Arte Moderna della Città di Lugano and Milan: Electa, 1993.
Chiappini, Rudy. Bacon. Exhibition catalogue, Milan, Palazzo Reale, Skira, 2008
Dagen, Philippe. Francis Bacon. Paris: Cercle d’Art, 1996.
Davies, Hugh Marlais. Francis Bacon: The Early and Middle Years, 1928-1958 (Ph.D. dissertation, Princeton University, Department of Art and Archaeology, August 1975). New York and London: Garland Publishing, 1978.
Davies, Hugh M. and Sally Yard. Bacon. New York: Abbeville, 1986.
Davies, Hugh M. Francis Bacon, The Papal Portraits of 1953. San Diego: Museum of Contemporary Art and Marquand Books Inc., Seattle, 2001.
Dawson, Barbara and Margarita Cappock. Francis Bacon’s Studio at the Hugh Lane. Dublin: Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery of Modern Art, 2001.
Deleuze, Gilles. ‘Francis Bacon: The Logic of Sensation’, Flash Art 112, May 1983, pp. 8-16.
Deleuze, Gilles. Francis Bacon: Logique de la Sensation. Paris Editions de la Différence, 1981.
Domino, Christophe. Francis Bacon. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1997.
Farr, Dennis. Francis Bacon: A Retrospective. Exhibition catalogue with contributions by Dennis Farr, Michael Peppiatt and Sally Yard. Yale Center of British Art and other venues. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc. in association with The Trust for Museum exhibitions, 1999.
Farson, Daniel. The Gilded Gutter Life of Francis Bacon. London: Century, 1993.
Gale, Matthew. Francis Bacon: Working on Paper. Introduction by David Sylvester. Exhibition catalogue, London: Tate Gallery, 1999.
Gale, Matthew/Stephens, Chris (ed.). Francis Bacon.Exhibition catalogue, Tate Publishing, London, 2008
Gayford, Martin. ‘The Brutality of Facts’, Modern Painters 9, Autumn 1996, pp. 43-49.
Gowing, Lawrence. and Sam Hunter. Francis Bacon. Exhibition catalogue, Washington, D.C.: Hirshhorn Museum and Thames & Hudson, 1989.
Hammer, Martin. Bacon and Sutherland, New Haven and London, 2005
Harrison, Martin. In Camera Francis Bacon, Photography Film and the Practice of Painting, Thames and Hudson,
London, 2005
Harrison, Martin. ‘Points of Reference, Francis Bacon and Photography’, Francis Bacon: Paintings from The Estate, 1980-1991. Exhibition catalogue, London: Faggionato Fine Arts, 1999.
Harrison, Martin. Incunabula, Thames and Hudson, London, 2008
Hergott, Fabrice. Francis Bacon. Exhibition catalogue, Paris: Centre Georges Pompidou, Editions du Centre Pompidou, 1996.
Hughes, Robert. ‘Singing within the Bloody Wood’, Time, July 1 1985, pp. 54-55.
Leiris, Michel. Francis Bacon, face et profil. Paris: Albin Michel; Munich: Prestel-Verlag; Milan: Rizzoli, 1983. English tr. John Weightman, Francis Bacon, Full Face and in Profile. Oxford: Phaidon, and New York: Rizzoli, 1983. Revised ed. 1988.
Mellor, David Alan. Van Gogh by Bacon. Exhibition catalogue with contributions by Philippe Sollers and Alain Jouffroy. Introduction by Yolande Clergue. Arles: Fondation Vincent Van Gogh-Arles and Actes Sud, 2002.
Ogden, Perry, 7 Reece Mews Francis Bacon’s Studio. Introduction by John Edwards. London: Thames & Hudson, 2001.
Peppiatt, Michael. Francis Bacon: Anatomy of an Enigma. London: Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 1996, and New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1997.
Peppiatt, Michael. ‘Six New Masters’, Connoisseur 217, September 1987, pp. 79-85.
Peppiatt, Michael. Francis Bacon in the 1950s. Exhibition catalogue, Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, University of East Anglia, Norwich, 2006
Peppiatt, Michael. Studies for a Portrait, Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 2008
Peppiatt, Michael. Lo Sagrado y lo profano. Exhibition catalogue, IVAM, Valencia; Musée Maillol, Paris, 2004
Russell, John. Francis Bacon. London: Thames & Hudson, 1971. Revised and Updated 1993.
Schmied, Wieland, Francis Bacon. Munich and New York: Prestel-Verlag, 1996.
Steffen, Barbara (ed.) Francis Bacon and the Tradition of Art, exhibition catalogue, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, 2003; Fondation Beyeler, Riehen/Basel, 2004
Sylvester, David. Interviews with Francis Bacon, London: Thames & Hudson, and New York: Pantheon, 1975. Third enlarged edition published in Great Britain as The Brutality of Fact. 1987. Fourth edition published as Interviews with Francis Bacon, 1993.
Sylvester, David. ‘The Supreme Pontiff’, Francis Bacon: Important Paintings from The Estate, Exhibition catalogue with contributions by Sam Hunter and Michael Peppiatt. New York: Tony Shafrazi Gallery, 1998.
Sylvester, David. Francis Bacon in Dublin. Exhibition catalogue with contributions by Grey Gowrie, Louis le Brocquey, Anthony Cronin and Paul Durcan. Dublin: Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery of Modern Art and Thames & Hudson, 2000.
Sylvester, David, Looking back at Francis Bacon. London: Thames & Hudson, 2000.
Trucchi, Lorenza. Francis Bacon. Milan: Fratelli Fabbri Editori, 1975. English tr. John Shepley, New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1975, and London: Thames & Hudson, 1976.
Zweite, Armin (ed.). Francis Bacon: The Violence of the Real. Exhibition catalogue, K20 Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf, 2006
FILMS
Francis Bacon: Paintings 1944-62. Conceived and directed by David Thompson, music by Elizabeth Lutyens. Film made for the Arts Council of Great Britain and Marlborough Fine Art, London, by Samaritan Films, London. Distributed by Gala Films. 1962 –1963.
Francis Bacon. Alexandre Burger for Radio Télévision Suisse Romande; dir. Pierre Koralnik, 1964.
Sunday Night Francis Bacon. Interview with David Sylvester. BBC Television; dir. Michael Gill, 1966.
Francis Bacon, Grand Palais 1971. BBC Television, prod. by Colin Nears. dir. by and interview with Gavin Millar, 1971.
Après Hiroshima…Francis Bacon. Antenne 2 for Désirs des arts, presented by Pierre Daix, dir. Pierre-Andre Boutang, P. Collin: interview with Pierre Daix; screened 5 February 1984.
The Brutality of Fact. Interview with David Sylvester. BBC Television for Arena. Dir. Michael Blackwood, prod. Alan Yentob; screened 16 November 1984.
Francis Bacon. London Weekend Television, South Bank Show. Interview and editing by Melvyn Bragg. Prod. and dir. David Hilton, 1985.
Bacon’s Arena, The Estate of Francis Bacon and BBC2 Television for Arena. Dir. Adam Low, prod. Anthony Wall; screened March 2005.
