Yale Center for British Art

Creator:
Francis Bacon, 1909–1992, Irish
Title:
Study of a Head
Date:
1952
Materials & Techniques:
Oil on canvas
Dimensions:
19 1/2 × 15 1/2 inches (49.5 × 39.4 cm)
Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Gift of Beekman C. and Margaret H. Cannon
Copyright Status:
© Estate of the Artist
Accession Number:
B1998.27
Classification:
Paintings
Collection:
Paintings and Sculpture
Subject Terms:
abstract art | distortion | anxiety | Expressionist | pope | brushstrokes | faces | figure study | study (visual work) | head | dark | screaming
Currently On View:
On view
Exhibition History:
In a New Light: 500 Years of British Art (Yale Center for British Art, 2025-04-01 - 2026-01-30)

Francis Bacon: The Beauty of Meat (Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand, 2024-03-22 - 2024-07-28)

In a New Light: Paintings from the Yale Center for British Art (Yale University Art Gallery, 2023-03-24 - 2023-12-03)

Francis Bacon and the Masters: A Collaboration between the State Hermitage Museum and the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts (The State Hermitage Museum, 2014-12-06 - 2015-03-08)

Francis Bacon and the Masters: A Collaboration between the State Hermitage Museum and the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts (Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, 2015-04-18 - 2015-07-26)

Francis Bacon [Japan 2013] (The National Museum of Modern Art, 2013-03-08 - 2013-05-26)

Francis Bacon [Japan 2013] (Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, 2013-06-04 - 2013-09-01)

Francis Bacon - Paintings From The 1950s (Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, 2006-10-01 - 2006-12-10)

Francis Bacon - Paintings From The 1950s (Milwaukee Art Museum, 2007-01-29 - 2007-04-15)

Francis Bacon - Portraits and Heads (Hamburger Kunsthalle, 2005-10-06 - 2006-01-28)

Francis Bacon - Portraits and Heads (National Galleries of Scotland, 2005-06-04 - 2005-09-04)

Francis Bacon (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, 2003-10-15 - 2004-01-18)

Revisiting Traditions [BAC 20th century painting & sculpture] (Yale Center for British Art, 2002-04-30 - 2005-05-18)

Francis Bacon 2000 Exhibition (Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane, 2000-06-01 - 2000-08-31)

Francis Bacon : A Retrospective Exhibition (Yale Center for British Art, 1999-01-25 - 1999-03-21)

Francis Bacon : A Retrospective Exhibition (Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 1999-04-08 - 1999-05-27)

Francis Bacon : A Retrospective Exhibition (Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 1999-06-13 - 1999-08-02)

Francis Bacon : A Retrospective Exhibition (The Museum of Modern Art of Fort Worth, 1999-08-20 - 1999-10-15)

Eight Figurative Painters (Yale Center for British Art, 1981-10-14 - 1982-01-03)

Eight Figurative Painters (Santa Barbara Museum of Art, 1982-01-29 - 1982-03-28)
Publications:
Dalya Alberge, Hockney? He's such rubbish, Bacon said, The Times (London), Monday, January 30, 2006, p. 27, The Times Digital Archive

Kenneth Baker, Bacon's paintings' edge dulled with age--but his technique retains power in retrospective, San Francisco Chronicle, June 11, 1999, p. C3, Access World News--Historical and Current : San Francisco Chronicle

Kenneth Baker, Brown on Bacon : a Young Artist Confronts his Influences in Englishman's Brutal Paintings, San Francisco Chronicle, July 4, 1999, p. 30, Access World News--Historical and Current : San Francisco Chronicle

Myriam Boutoulle, Bacon, la Fascination Picassienne, Connaissance des Arts, , March 2005, p. 24, J10 C761 (SML)

Johan Callens, Anne-Marie Boisvert, Manon Oligny, and Thomas Israël : Three Artists in Search of Cindy Sherman, , TDR, vol. 54, Spring (March) 2010, pp. 53, 55, fig. 13, JSTOR

Eight figurative painters, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, 1981, pp. 52, 54, no. 18, ND468.5 F5 E55 (YCBA)

Dennis Farr, Francis Bacon : a retrospective, , The Trust for Museum Exhibitions, New York, 1999, pp. 74-75, no. 12, NJ18 B13 F28 1999 (YCBA)

William Feaver, The Greatest Living Painter, ART News, v. 84, September 1985, pp. 123-125, N1 A6 OVERSIZE (HAAS)

Andrew Forge, Bacon: The Paint of Screams, ART News, v. 62, October 1963, pp. 38-41, N1 .A6 OVERSIZE (HAAS)

Francis Bacon : ( exhibition ), , Nikkei, Inc., Tokyo, 2013, pp. 36-37, 184, no. 8, unnumbered plate, NJ18.B13 A12 2013 + OVERSIZE (YCBA)

Francis Bacon : die Portraits : Hamburger Kunsthalle, [14. Oktober 2005 bis 15. Januar 2006], , Hatje Cantz, Ostfildern-Ruit, 2005, pp. 40-42, fig. 7, NJ18 .B13 A12 2005B (YCBA)

Francis Bacon : lo sagrado y lo profano, , Generalitat Valenciana IVAM, Valencia, 2003, p. 19, NJ18 B13 A12 2003B + (YCBA)

Francis Bacon and the masters, Fontanka Publications, London, 2015, p. 198, Cat. 44, Pl. 12, NJ18.B13 F7452 2015 OVERSIZE (YCBA)

Francis Bacon in Dublin, Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane, Dublin, 2000, pp. 52, 55, 123, no. 17, NJ18 .B13 S975 2000 (YCBA)

Erin Keever, Painter's Work Piques Morbid Curiosity, Austin-American Statesman, October 2, 1999, p. D6, Gale OneFile : News

Kenneth J. Larsen, Reader Offended by Artwork of "Screaming Pope", Washington Times, March 9, 1999, p. A16, Access World News--Historical and Current : Washington Times

Martin Harrison, Francis Bacon : catalogue raisonne´, Estate of Francis Bacon, London, 2016, vol. 2, pp. 262, 263, cat. no. 52-05, col. pl p. 263, NJ18.B13 A12 2016 OVERSIZE (YCBA)

Jean Nowak, Yale's Large Collection of Art Earns High Marks, Washington Times, March 7, 1999, p. E1, Access World News--Historical and Current : Washington Times

Michael Peppiatt, Francis Bacon : studies for a portrait : essays and interviews, , Yale University Press, New Haven, Conn., London, 2008, pp. 104-105, 112, NJ18 .B13 P473 2008 (YCBA)

Michael Peppiatt, Francis Bacon in the 1950s, Yale University Press, Norwich, UK and New Haven, 2006, p. 69, no. 1, NJ18 .B13 P472 2006 (YCBA)

Portraits and heads, National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, 2005, pp. 29, 33, no. 5, NJ18 .B13 A12 2005 (YCBA)

Wilfried Seipel, Francis Bacon and the tradition of art, Skira editore, Milano; New York, 2003, pp. 148, 153, no. 28, NJ18 .B13 F75 2003 + (YCBA)

Jackie Wullschlager, Birth of the genius that is Bacon, Financial Times, September 22, 2006, p. 13, Financial Times Historial Archive

William Zimmer, Bacon is the Star of Yale Reopening, New York Times, February 28, 1999, p. CT14, ProQuest Historical Newspapers : New York Times
Gallery Label:
Bacon preferred to work from photographs or memory rather than live models, often merging parts of multiple figures into one image. To compose this screaming androgynous figure, he borrowed from an array of sources, including sixteenth-century portraits, popular cinema, and medical textbooks. Bacon once noted that he was “moved by” the movement and shape of mouths and teeth, and here the dark void of the subject’s own serves as the painting’s focal point. The figure’s white clothing and the yellow railing behind him suggest that he may be in a psychiatric institution. Produced in the decade after World War II, Bacon’s head expresses the despair and anguish brought on by its atrocities. Gallery label for installation of YCBA collection, 2025
Link:
https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:1566