Francis Bacon (1909-92) Beginning on the early 1950s, despite the dominance of Abstract Expressionism in both the United States and Europe, there were recurring waves of insistence on a return to the figure, a new naturalism of naturalistic fantasy. Crucial to the new figuration were Alberto Giacometti and Jean Dubuffet. The only other figurative Expressionist powerful enough to be compared with Giacometti and Dubuffet were British. Chief among these was the Irish-born Francis Bacon, one …showed first 75 words of 593 total…

…showed last 75 words of 593 total…deliberate and concerted attempt to reintroduce subject matter figures, most frequently in a macabre effect. Along with Giacometti and Dubuffet, Frances Bacon was a major contributor to the postwar European figuration and fantasy movement. His devotion to the monstrous, the deformed. or the diseased has been variously interpreted as a reaction to the plight of the world and humanity. His paintings reveal his superb qualities as a pure painter and his obsessive sense of tradition.