Flesh and Bone Francis Bacon/Henry Moore: >Ashmolean Museum, Oxford 12 September 2013–19 January 2014

摘要

I hope you will find it as difficult as I did to resist this exhibition of two of the 20th century’s greatest artists in one of the country’s most beautiful museums. Francis Bacon, whose sudden death from a heart attack in Madrid was followed by no public ceremony, and Henry Moore OM, whose life was celebrated by a service in Westminster Abbey, knew each other, but were not friends, and have never before been exhibited together in a public gallery. Indeed, they were, as far as we can tell, as different as men as possible — Moore the rooted, often taciturn Yorkshireman, Bacon leading his solitary, shadowy, urban existence — and at first sight much of their work stands in sharp contrast. However, this show, which explores similarities, differences, and affinities in their work also emphasises their common sources: the human figure, the human head and face, the use of the human form to express emotions and beliefs, and the inspiration they both drew from African, Egyptian, and pre-Colombian artefacts. Rather archly, I thought, the Ashmolean, presumably without much trouble, fished out two or three Michelangelo master drawings of the human figure and a couple of Rodin sculptures to introduce this idea at the beginning of the exhibition.