Bacon and Moore at the Ashmolean

I finally found the time to visit the Francis Bacon-Henry Moore exhibition at the Ashmolean. And it was well worth it!

As most temporary exhibitions at the Ashmolean this one is also small: it takes up only three rooms. Therefore it is very important that the selection of works be really good. Also, there is no space to present a lot of context, a very detailed story of the development. But the curators (Martin Harrison and Richard Calvocoressi) have done a good work and selected pieces both by Bacon and by Moore which highlight the major influences on them, connect their work to each other, and illustrate their major themes.

Of course besides fulfilling the above mentioned educational end aesthetic duties the exhibition offers more. In fact, it was a very strange and very personal experience. For some time I was appalled by Bacon's figures.Their grotesque movements, positions, the distorted faces, the flesh and bones made visible...I enjoyed the sensitivity and honesty of these works in a dark way. As statements about humans, as showing equally ferocious and ugly truths hiding below our skins. But today another aspect of Bacon's work struck me. It is the honesty of it. The figures stopped being threatening, although some of the pictures create the illusion that one has just stepped into a room where one is struck by the sight of these people doing there whatever they are doing. From threatening it went into compassionate. It appears now to me that what makes it hard to endure Bacon's works is the need it presents for opening up towards the vulnerability, the need for support and understanding that radiates from these figures.

Francis Bacon Second version of Triptych 1944 (1988, oil on canvas)

What appeared to be hostile monsters in the Second version of Triptych 1944 I suddenly saw as lungs, intestines, throats and mouths grown together in desperate, exposed positions. Why are they there? Who did this to them? Why is it happening? The focus shifted from the feeling of 'what is going to happen to me if I'm left alone with these beings?' to one of 'why would anyone do that to others?'

As I already mentioned, the exhibition created an exhibition that emphasizes important similarities between Bacon's and Moore's work. Some of Moore's statues almost call out for a gentle touch, or seem to suggest that their characters are already entrapped in a situation that is beyond help... In this way they make the onlooker feel powerless and lost, recreating the effect of those maddening situations when one's beloveds or friends need help and one cannot provide it.

I won't go on any longer about my experiences and what the works evoked in me. I suggest to everyone who can to go and see for themselves, and bring home a touching and humbling experience.

In case you are looking for a bit of introduction to their work, this interview with Bacon, and this short film about Moore (featuring himself, and showing how he handles the chisel) might be nice places to start.

Henry Moore Three Standing Figures (London, Battersea Park)