Study for Figure VI (1956-57)

Francis Bacon

oil on canvas

Hatton Gallery, Newcastle University

Classification:

Painting

Materials:

Oil, Canvas

Dimensions:

149 x 116 cm

Accession Number:

NEWHG:OP.0054

Credit:

Presented by the Contemporary Art Society, with the aid of the R. J. Sainsbury Discretionary Fund, 1962

Scheme:

Gift

Ownership history:

Purchased from the artist through the Hanover Gallery, London by the Contemporary Art Society, with the R. J. Sainsbury Discretionary Settlement Fund, May 1957; presented to the Hatton Gallery, Newcastle, 1962

Relationship:

(George) Loraine Conran Hanover Gallery, London Robert 'Bob' James Sainsbury Hatton Gallery, Newcastle University R. J. Sainsbury Discretionary Settlement Fund

Subject:

Portraits, Figures

Study for Figure VI (1956) is part of a series that Francis Bacon created during his troubled relationship with pilot and pianist Peter Lacy. The figure in this painting sits in an enclosed space, a common motif in Bacon’s work. This has been linked to incidents during Bacon’s childhood, when he was allegedly locked in a dark cupboard. However, Bacon stated that he simply used cage imagery as a device to focus the image.

One of the highlights of the Hatton Gallery, Newcastle University, Kenneth Rowntree, then Professor of Fine Art, selected this work from the Contemporary Art Society’s 1961 display of recent acquisitions held at the Whitechapel Art Gallery. The CAS had in turn acquired the painting with funds provided by Sir Robert Sainsbury, an early patron of Bacon.

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