For story on Francis Bacon’s “Study For a Head” auction at Sothebys
A painting from Francis Bacon’s famed series will go under the hammer in May at Sotheby’s contemporary art evening sale in New York.
Completed in 1952, “Study for a Head” could sell for between US$20 million and US$30 million. The painting draws inspiration from Diego Velazquez’s “Portrait of Pope Innocent X” that captivated Bacon for decades.
“Study for a Head” is one of the earliest works by Bacon to enter a private American collection. It was bought by novelist and critic BH Friedman the year it was painted. Acquired in 1970s by Seattle collectors Richard Lang and Jane Lang Davis, it has remained in private hands since then.
Grégoire Billault, the head of Sotheby’s contemporary art department in New York, said in a release: “The painting contains all the elements of the artist’s best-known works from this period — broken pince-nez glasses, a purple mozzetta, and of course the reverberating scream — and draws inspiration from the works of Velázquez, Munch, and Poussin, as well as Bacon’s lifelong exploration of the human condition. We greatly look forward to presenting the painting to collectors and admirers of Bacon’s genius around the world this spring.”
Other artworks from the Lang collection put to auction in May include a sculpture by Alberto Giacometti, “Le Couple,” estimated between US$900,000 and US$1.5 million; Hans Hofmann’s “View from the Balcony”, which is estimated at US$500,000 to US$700,000; and Willem de Kooning’s “Woman with Red Hair,” estimated between US$350,000 and US$450,000.
Francis Bacon’s “Study for a Head” will go on sale on May 16 at Sotheby’s New York. It will travel to Hong Kong (from March 29 to April 2), Paris (April 8-9) and Los Angeles (April 16-17), before returning to New York. It will be on public view in Sotheby’s newly-redesigned galleries on York Avenue from May 3. – Relaxnews
