STUDY FOR A PORTRAIT OF JOHN EDWARDS, 1987

  • Study For Portrait Of John Edwards, Francis Bacon
    Study for Portrait of John Edwards, 1987
    Lithograph, edition size 180, H 94cm X W 68cm 
    ©The Estate of Francis Bacon 
    Study for Portrait of John Edwards is one of Francis Bacon’s later works, created in the 1980s and inspired by his close friendship with John Edwards, his long-time companion, confidant, and eventual heir. Edwards, a former barman from London’s East End, entered Bacon’s life in the mid-1970s, after the deaths of many of the artist’s closest friends and lovers. Their relationship was built on warmth and stability, providing Bacon with a sense of ease that had long been absent from his life.
     
    In this portrait, Bacon presents Edwards standing between a doorway with a teal background and a stone coloured floor, which lends the work an unexpected softness. Unlike his earlier depictions of lovers such as George Dyer, which were charged with anguish and distortion, the Study for Portrait of John Edwards feels calm, balanced, and almost tender. The figure remains recognisably Baconian, fluid, semi-abstract, and suspended in space, but the emotional tone has shifted from despair to quiet affection.
     
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  • If I didn’t have to live, I’d never let any of it out.


    -Francis Bacon

    John Edwards (1950–2003) was Francis Bacon’s closest companion during the final two decades of the artist’s life, a steady, grounding presence who replaced the chaos and tragedy that had defined Bacon’s earlier relationships. Born in London’s East End, Edwards came from a working-class family and had little formal education. He met Bacon in 1974 through mutual friends in Soho’s Colony Room, and the unlikely friendship that followed became one of the most enduring and important of Bacon’s later years.