The Differences and Similarities of Bacon, Freud, and Hockney: An Unusual Big Three in the British Art World

 Auction Information     |      Network source    |    2023-06-03 16:30
Paul Allen collected the masterpieces of three avant-garde artists, all of whom became famous in post-war London, but pioneered different ways of examining and depicting characters.
 
After the end of World War II, London was a dilapidated and dilapidated place, with over 100000 buildings destroyed or difficult to repair due to enemy bombing.

 
In such an ominous environment, a group of top artists regained their creative freedom after the war and began their artistic careers, mainly including Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud, and David Hockney, who later entered the art world. The masterpieces of three famous artists will be filmed at the Pioneer Invention: Paul Allen Collection in Christie's New York on November 9th.

 
In their long artistic career, they ignored the prevailing trend at that time and focused on creating figurative art during the period when abstract art prevailed.
 
Lucian Freud (1922-2011), "Interior Scene W11 (with Walto)", 1981 – 1983. Oil paint canvas. seventy-two ¼  X 78 inches (185.4 x 198.1 centimeters). Valuation to be inquired. This work will be presented at Christie's New York Pioneer Invention: Paul Allen Collection Auction on November 9, 2022

 
Freud's groundbreaking group portrait "The Grand Indoor Scene W11 (With Walto)" created in the early 1980s, with a height and width of nearly 2 meters, became the artist's largest painting at the time and was the first time he depicted more than two characters in the painting.

 
The painting depicts his then lover Celia Paul, daughter Bella, former partner Suzy Boyt's son Kai, and Suzy Boyt himself from left to right. In Freud's room on the upper floor of his studio in the West End of London, four people crowded together on the bed. Lying on the floor in front of the bed was Ali Boyt (son of Susie and Lucian), who was then his girlfriend's sister Star.

 
It is easy to see 'The Grand Interior Scene W11 (With Huato)' as a portrayal of the artist's chaotic private life, but as the title suggests, the work aims to respond to the paintings of classical masters, namely Jean Antoine Watteau's' The Clown '(now housed in the Musee Tenemisa in Madrid) in 1712. Freud moved the elegant banquet held by this French artist in a charming forest clearing into his rudimentary studio.

 
Every detail in the painting originates from Freud's keen gaze, with the pipes inside the house exposed and the walls only covered in plaster. Huatuo's forest bench became an iron bed frame that Freud bought for £ 7 in a second-hand home auction. The fountain in the original painting has turned into a twisted faucet, and the trees have been replaced with messy indoor plants.

 
The late art historian Robert Hughes stated that the final product was "a declaration that truly expresses Freud's deeper intentions: that the perspective of examination is superior to the dramatic technique of expression.
 


Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud, photographed in 1974. Captured by Harry Diamond. ©  National Portrait Gallery, London/Art Resource, New York

 
Freud never pursued traditional aesthetics, and when he encountered unattractive things, he seemed to always be intoxicated with them.

 
He is also known for his sincere love for oil paint, and it is widely believed that he was influenced by his friend Bacon in the early stages of his artistic career. The 1979 work "Three Works: Self Portraits" by Bacon, which was filmed this time, also uses thick coating to create a textured three-dimensional surface.

 
This work is a self portrait trilogy composed of three closeups depicting the artist's head from different angles. He added unsettling patches of pink and blue to his ghostly pale face, with a dazzling orange background.

 
Freud would spend weeks or even months creating portraits, carefully examining characters and backgrounds, while Bacon, on the other hand, often galloped with his pen to express high emotions.

 

Francis Bacon (1909-1992), "Three Works: Self Portraits," written in 1979. Triple work, oil paint canvas. Each frame: 14 x12 inches (35.6 x 30.5 centimeters). Valuation: $25000000- $35000000. This work will be presented at Christie's New York Pioneer Invention: Paul Allen Collection Auction on November 9, 2022


It is worth noting that he was already in his seventies when he created "Three Works: Self Portraits". A few years before this, he experienced the pain of several close friends passing away (the most painful being the death of his lover and muse George Dyer in 1971, just before Bacon held a large-scale retrospective exhibition at the Grand Palace in Paris).

 
Of Bacon's 53 paintings named after self portraits, 29 were painted in the 1970s (with only seven being trilogy), which is certainly not a coincidence. As he told art critic David Sylvester in the mid-1970s, "I created many self portraits, but because people around me passed away and no one could model me, I had to paint myself." This work was one of the many self portraits he created at the time.

 
Apart from Rembrandt, it is difficult to imagine an artist who would be so frank and bold in artistic creation under the guise of self observation.

 
One of Bacon's well-known deeds is that he replaced real models with photos, thereby "distorting things far beyond their appearance, while returning to the record of appearances in the process of distortion. When creating self portraits, Bacon also faces the mirror to study his own appearance. He will not shave for a few days, and he will also use Max Factor's stage makeup to paint swirls and create distorted facial features on his face.
 
David Hockney (born in 1937), "Dialogue", written in 1980. Acrylic Canvas. 60 x 60 inches (152.4 x 152.4 centimeters). Valuation: $5000000- $7000000. This work will be presented at Christie's New York Pioneer Invention: Paul Allen Collection Auction on November 9, 2022


David Hockney is a completely different artist. The imagery in his paintings is far more cheerful and optimistic than the themes of Bacon and Freud, and he tends to use bright colors, feeling carefree.

 
The dialogue, created in 1980, is one of the well-known dual portraits of this Yorkshire painter, a painting that examines the relationship between two relatives and friends. Hockney's love for such works stems from his belief that portraits do not necessarily depend on the connections between characters and painters, but can also be defined by the relationships between characters.

 
The dialogue depicts Hockney's two friends, renowned American curator Henry Geldzahler and his 20-something partner and publisher Raymond Foye, sitting together as if in a heated discussion. The former leans forward and seems to have just finished an argument, with his right arm resting on his elevated left leg, while the latter leans back slightly on the chair listening, somewhat unmoved, and seems to be thinking about how to respond.

 
Even if we cannot hear a word, it seems as if we can feel the dialogue and exchange, confirming Hockney's exceptional talent as a painter.

 
His previous dual portraits were usually set in a carefully designed home environment, allowing people to glimpse the relationships between characters, but "Dialogue" chose a simple background. There is only a yellow screen behind the character, which focuses the viewer's attention on the character's gestures and postures.

 
Hockney may not have Freud's sharp gaze or Bacon's existentialist worldview, but his dual portrait is full of psychological tension.

 

Lucian Freud and David Hockney, 2002. Photographed by David Dawson. Photos: ©  David Dawson. Copyright 2022/Bridgeman Images. Artwork: ©  The Lucian Freud Archive. Copyright 2022/Bridgeman Images

 
Three paintings from Paul Allen's collection, created only a few years apart. When creating these works, all three artists were in a stage of rich life experience and outstanding skills.

 
Although their ages were not the same (Bacon was over ten years older than Freud, who was also over ten years older than Hockney), their contemporary painter Frank Auerbach pointed out that the three had an important commonality - a sense of curiosity and freedom in their hearts after experiencing the horrors of World War II.

 
Although the three artists focused on concrete works, each developed their own unique way of painting and observation, which precisely reflects this spirit of freedom.