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Richard Hamilton, designer

A Portrait of the Artist by Francis Bacon, 1970-71

Description

Maker

  • Petersburg Press, Inc., publisher
  • Richard Hamilton, 1922-2011, British, designer
  • Dietz Offizin, printer
  • E. Schreiber, 19th century, German, printer

Title

A Portrait of the Artist by Francis Bacon

Year

1970-71

Medium

Color collotype (from a Polaroid of Richard Hamilton by Francis Bacon) and screenprint

Materials/Techniques

Materials

  • color screen print,
  • collotype

Supports

  • medium weight cream wove paper

Dimensions

54.5 x 49.5 cm (21 1/2 x 19 1/2 inches) (plate)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

Original--Recto:titled in pencil in LL:Portrait of the Artist by Francis Bacon; signed and numbered in LR:R. Hamilton 111/140 Verso:in pencil in UR:4151

Identification

Edition

111/140

Type

  • Works on Paper,
  • Prints

Credit

Georgianna Sayles Aldrich Fund

Object Number

74.108

Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Facing Artists

February 27 - July 31, 2009

Like many artists of the time, Richard Hamilton took an interest in instant photography when the Polaroid Corporation introduced it to a popular audience in the
late 1960s, making artist’s books of Polaroid portraits taken of him by other artists. The painter Francis Bacon (English, 1909–1992) took this image on July 14, 1969, over lunch in a London restaurant. The lighting was poor, so Hamilton positioned himself to take advantage of the brightest spot. The first image was blurred so
Bacon took more, but Hamilton liked the blurred image because it resembled Bacon’s painting style. With Bacon’s permission, he transformed the image into the
print you see here, adding, with coaching from Bacon, a background that imitated Bacon’s painting style.

The English Eye

June 21 - September 1, 1991

Use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use. This object is in Copyright. This object is A Portrait of the Artist by Francis Bacon with the accession number of 74.108. To request high-resolution files or new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.

Feedback

We view our online collection as a living documents, and our records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you have additional information or have spotted an error, please send feedback to curatorial@risd.edu.

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