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Head IV
Theramin: I guess we can try this...
'''''Head IV''''', sometimes subtitled '''''Man with a Monkey''''', is a 1949 painting by Irish-born British artist [[Francis Bacon (artist)|Francis Bacon]], one of series of works made in 1949 for his first one-man exhibition at the [[Hanover Gallery]], in London. It measures and is held in a private collection.
The painting is part of a series of six works from the late 1940s depicting heads. Like ''[[Head III]]'' and ''[[Head V]]'', ''[[Head IV]]'' is usually considered as an intermediate steps towards his ''[[Head VI]]'' (and it is sometimes confused with the better known ''Head VI]''). The work depicts the upper half of a male figure in a suit, in a rear quarter view facing away from the viewer, in a space shrouded with vertical bands interpreted as curtains. The figure is possibly looking in a mirror, where a simian face looks back. Like ''[[Head III]]'', it is painted in dark tones of grey and black on a beige ground with white highlights, which in this case pick out the man's shirt collar, his neck, ear and temple. The placing of the two heads suggest the man is dissolving into the monkey, although the man is sometimes described as having a monkey on his shoulder; the low contrast between the elements have been likened to a cinematic [[dissolve (filmmaking)|dissolve]]. It may be based on a photograph.
Bacon's six ''Head'' paintings were first exhibited at the Hanover Gallery in 1949, alongside four other important early works by Bacon: ''[[Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion]]'', ''[[Figure in a landscape]]'', ''Study from the Human Body'' (also known as ''Study for Figure'') and ''[[Study for Portrait]]'' (also known as '' Man in a Blue Box'').<ref>"[https://ift.tt/2yRtfxf Exhibition catalogues: A chronological selection of solo and group exhibition catalogues from the MB Art Collection.]". MB Art Foundation. Retrieved 20 May 2017</ref>. Many are now held by major public collections.
''Head IV'' was bought in 1949 by [[Tony Hubbard]], heir to a fortune from the [[Woolworth]] business. It entered the private collection of the New York broker [[Geoffrey Gates]] in 1963. It remains in a private collection.
A 1961 self-portrait of Bacon is also known as ''Head IV''.
==References==
* [https://ift.tt/2OlJjfN Head IV (Man with a Monkey) (1949)], francis-bacon.com
* [https://ift.tt/2yLxTNi Head IV (Man with a Monkey), 1949], Artimage
* [https://ift.tt/2OlJjMP Head IV (1961)], francis-bacon.com
* [https://ift.tt/2yRf9Me Wyndham Lewis and Francis Bacon], Jan Cox
* [https://ift.tt/2OlJkQT About Modern Art], David Sylvester, p.175
* [https://ift.tt/2yN1je0 The Gilded Gutter Life Of Francis Bacon: The Authorized Biography], Daniel Farson, p.74
[[Category:1949 paintings]]
[[Category:Paintings by Francis Bacon]]
The painting is part of a series of six works from the late 1940s depicting heads. Like ''[[Head III]]'' and ''[[Head V]]'', ''[[Head IV]]'' is usually considered as an intermediate steps towards his ''[[Head VI]]'' (and it is sometimes confused with the better known ''Head VI]''). The work depicts the upper half of a male figure in a suit, in a rear quarter view facing away from the viewer, in a space shrouded with vertical bands interpreted as curtains. The figure is possibly looking in a mirror, where a simian face looks back. Like ''[[Head III]]'', it is painted in dark tones of grey and black on a beige ground with white highlights, which in this case pick out the man's shirt collar, his neck, ear and temple. The placing of the two heads suggest the man is dissolving into the monkey, although the man is sometimes described as having a monkey on his shoulder; the low contrast between the elements have been likened to a cinematic [[dissolve (filmmaking)|dissolve]]. It may be based on a photograph.
Bacon's six ''Head'' paintings were first exhibited at the Hanover Gallery in 1949, alongside four other important early works by Bacon: ''[[Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion]]'', ''[[Figure in a landscape]]'', ''Study from the Human Body'' (also known as ''Study for Figure'') and ''[[Study for Portrait]]'' (also known as '' Man in a Blue Box'').<ref>"[https://ift.tt/2yRtfxf Exhibition catalogues: A chronological selection of solo and group exhibition catalogues from the MB Art Collection.]". MB Art Foundation. Retrieved 20 May 2017</ref>. Many are now held by major public collections.
''Head IV'' was bought in 1949 by [[Tony Hubbard]], heir to a fortune from the [[Woolworth]] business. It entered the private collection of the New York broker [[Geoffrey Gates]] in 1963. It remains in a private collection.
A 1961 self-portrait of Bacon is also known as ''Head IV''.
==References==
* [https://ift.tt/2OlJjfN Head IV (Man with a Monkey) (1949)], francis-bacon.com
* [https://ift.tt/2yLxTNi Head IV (Man with a Monkey), 1949], Artimage
* [https://ift.tt/2OlJjMP Head IV (1961)], francis-bacon.com
* [https://ift.tt/2yRf9Me Wyndham Lewis and Francis Bacon], Jan Cox
* [https://ift.tt/2OlJkQT About Modern Art], David Sylvester, p.175
* [https://ift.tt/2yN1je0 The Gilded Gutter Life Of Francis Bacon: The Authorized Biography], Daniel Farson, p.74
[[Category:1949 paintings]]
[[Category:Paintings by Francis Bacon]]
November 03, 2018 at 09:49AM
