Bacon And Sutherland

Francis Bacon (1909-1992) and Graham Sutherland (1903-1980) were two of the most compelling and influential of modern British artists. This book is the first to consider their artistic dialogue in depth, offering an analysis of the two artists' work up to 1950.
Martin Hammer focuses on the strong stylistic and thematic affinities between their work and the fascinating series of letters that Bacon wrote to Sutherland (transcribed in an appendix). Having considered the dynamics of the relationship and their intertwined careers, he goes on to explore how their work expressed the experience of living through the Second World War and witnessing revelations concerning the Holocaust and the onset of the Cold War.
Drawing on the literary production of the period and journals such as Horizon, Hammer reconstructs the two artists' shared immersion in the idea of a tragic art, modelled upon the classical dramas of Aeschylus, and their interest in the possibilities of religious imagery, especially the Crucifixion, as a commentary upon present suffering.

Martin Hammer is Senior Lecturer in the History of Art, University of Edinburgh.