FRANCIS BACON – IN THE MIRROR OF PHOTOGRAPHY

I am very proud that my book Francis Bacon – In the Mirror of Photography. Collecting, Preparatory Practice and Painting was published by De Gruyter in May 2022. It is based on my PhD research and thus marks the end of a long and exciting journey.

Francis Bacon consistently and deliberately based his paintings on the photographic material he collected in his studios, most famously so in the last one at 7 Reece Mews, London, for this purpose. Francis Bacon – In the Mirror of Photography brings together Bacon’s pictorial springboards for the first time and delineates and interprets recurring patterns and methods, but also highlights the limitations of Bacon’s interest in photography.

Francis Bacon – In the Mirror of Photography was favourably reviewed in Fotolot (October 2022) and The Burlington Magazine (March 2023, Vol. 165 | No. 1440). It won the Offermann-Hergarten Award (University of Cologne) and the gold medal at Deutscher Fotobuchpreis 2023 (German Photo Book Price) at Internationales Festival Fotografischer Bilder.

AUGMENTED REALITY IN FINE ART

Augmented Reality is a insubordinate medium. Read in my latest essay how it pushes the physical boundaries of the museum space and defies conventional ideas of exhibitions, ownership and power in the art world. You can read the text with the title Systemsprenger – Augmented Reality in der zeitgenössischen Kunst open access in the edited volume Wohnen – Sammeln – Erinnern – Visualisieren. Raumpraktiken gestern und heute which has just been published at Wallstein. Download the text here.

LEE MILLER BLOG POST

Last Thursday, 11 April, marked the 79th anniversary of the liberation of the Buchenwald concentration camp. I wrote a little something on Lee Miller‘s photographs of the first funeral procession to mark this day. You can read it on Klassik Stiftung Weimar‘s blog. It is there interlinked with my previous text on Miller for their magazine, klassisch modern. In case you have not read this one, here is the direct link.

KUNSTTEXTE

SPREAD THE WORD: Jule Schaffer and I just founded a new section on photography within the German open access journal kunsttexte. For the first edition, which we are planning to launch towards the end of the year, we just published an open call for papers. The deadline is 31st May 2024.
Anyone with original perspectives on photography please apply. All topics are welcome: research on a single photographer or a genre, photo theory, media-related thoughts, formal and aesthetic issues … surprise us! We look forward to your texts, preferably in German.
Call for Papers

RETHINKING PHOTOGRAPHY

I talked to Andy Scholz about Francis Bacon and photography for his fantastic podcast Fotografie Neu Denken (Rethinking Photography), and specifically about my research on the painter’s photographic references, published as Francis Bacon – In the Mirror of Photography (De Gruyter 2022) winning a gold medal at Deutscher Fotobuchpreis (German Photo Book Awards). Among many other things, my work shows how powerful and influential the medium of photography is even beyond its own boundaries.
You can listen to the interview, for example, on Spotify

And while you are there, check out all the other amazing episodes with photographers and photo experts such as Boris Eldagsen, Hubert Locher, Wolfgang Ullrich and Adam Broomberg!

FOTOGRAFIE NEU DENKEN. DER PODCAST

LEE MILLER IN KLASSISCH MODERN

Very proud to have contributed to the latest issue of klassisch modern, the annual magazine of Klassik Stiftung Weimar, with fantastic texts by Peter Neumann, Anna Stiede and Nancy Hünger, amongst others. I wrote, once more, about Lee Miller‘s Buchenwald photographs – and found out where the famous picture of her with “the essentials of life”, namely wine, cigarettes and gasoline was taken, and when exactly she arrived in Weimar. Curious? Order the magazine free of charge here

BACON AND EPHEMERAL ART

Bacon’s working material was not meant to last. In fact, the decay of the torn leaves, paint-spattered photographs and newspaper clippings was a pivotal element in his art – both for his iconography and on a conceptual level. In that it shows strong parallels to ephemeral art, which emerged around the same time that Bacon established his studio practice in 7 Reece Mews. I am exploring these coherences in my latest essay Vom Leben und Sterbenlassen in Reece Mews. Francis Bacons fotografisches Arbeitsmaterial, that was just published in the proceedings of the Marbach Weimar Wolfenbüttel Research Association’s midterm conference “Verschwinden” Vom Umgang mit materialen und medialen Verlusten in Archiv und Bibliothek.

DIGITAL COLLECTION RESEARCH

Last year we asked “Is digital better?” at the Marbach Weimar Wolfenbüttel Research Association’s end-term conference at Klassik Stiftung Weimar. The conference proceedings have just been published by Wallstein Verlag, with essays discussing topics from how digital methods can help in the culture of remembrance to the challenges for standardized classification and controlled vocabulary in the light of unusual items such as wine labels and the shifting perception of objects from colonial contexts. Edited by yours truly and Stefan Alschner. Many thanks to all the contributors!
Order the book here.

FAHBI AT GERMAN CONGRESS FOR ART HISTORY

Roll up, roll up! Ute Engel (Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg) and I conceptualised an exciting panel for the Forum Art History Britain and Ireland FAHBI at the 37th German Congress for Art History 2024 at Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg (13th to 17th March 2024). We invited Amy Concannon from Tate Britain London, Richard Johns from the University of York, Logan Sisley from Hugh Lane Gallery Dublin, and Christian Spies from the University of Cologne/Museum für Gegenwartskunst Siegen to talk about questions concerning “Displaying British and Irish Art: Images of the Nation, Place, and Space.” Come and join the discussion on 13th March at 9.45, Kollegienhaus, lecture hall 1.011. We look forward to seeing you in Erlangen!

LAUDATION DEUTSCHER FOTOBUCHPREIS

Listen to the latest episode of the podcast Fotografie Neu Denken to hear Peter Truschner‘s laudation on my book Francis Bacon – In the Mirror of Photography. Collecting, Preparatory Practice and Painting winning this year’s gold medal at Deutscher Fotobuchpreis. Thank you Peter, for this fantastic speech (no notes)!
Spotify
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LEE MILLER RUNDBRIEF FOTOGRAFIE

New publication: Lee Miller is currently omnipresent, and rightly so, but it’s time for new approaches to her work. Read my extensive review of the show Lee Miller. Fotografin zwischen Krieg und Glamour at Bucerius Kunst Forum in the December issue of Rundbrief Fotografie.