Richard Ford on Francis Bacon

“It doesn’t mean he sees the world this way, only that he can make things look this way.” The Pulitzer Prize-winning American writer here contemplates a painting by one of the most influential painters of the 20th century, Francis Bacon.

“This image has less to do with humans than you think. It isn’t funny. It isn’t sad. It isn’t grotesque. It isn’t ugly (although it could bring up the matter of what is?),” Ford says, describing ‘Man and Child’ (1963) by Francis Bacon.

Richard Ford (b. 1944) is an American novelist and short story writer. Among his books are his short story collection ‘Rock Springs’ (1987), the novels ‘Canada’ (2012), ‘The Sportswriter’ (1986) (proclaimed by Time Magazine to be one of the 100 best novels written in English), and its sequels ‘Independence Day’ (1995), ‘The Lay of the Land’ (2006) and ‘Let Me Be Frank With You’ (2014). Ford is the recipient of several prestigious awards including the 2013 Prix Femina Étranger (for ‘Canada’), the 2001 PEN/Malamud Award for excellence in short fiction, the 1995 PEN/Faulkner Award, and the 1995 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

Francis Bacon (1909-1992) is a British, Irish-born figurative painter known for his raw, unsettling imagery. Bacon is considered among the most important painters of the 20th century. For more see: https://www.theartstory.org/artist/ba...

In the video, Richard Ford reads a text about Francis Bacon. The text is called ’25 Ways of Looking at Francis Bacon (plus a word of appreciation)’, and the focus of the text is ‘Man and Child’, 1963 by Francis Bacon written for the anthology ‘Looking Writing Reading Looking – Writers on Art from the Louisiana Collection’ (2019). More information here: https://www.artbook.com/9788793659216...

Edited by Kasper Bech Dyg

Produced by Kasper Bech Dyg and Christian Lund

Sound recordings by Pejk Malinovski

Cover photo: Detail from ‘Man and Child’, 1963 by Francis Bacon. © The Estate of Francis Bacon

Works by Francis Bacon: © The Estate of Francis Bacon. All rights reserved. DACS / VISDA 2020

Copyright: Louisiana Channel, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 2020

Supported by Nordea-fonden

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