Richard Hamilton, designer

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.