Two previously unseen drawings by Lucian Freud of the painter Francis Bacon with his shirt open and his flies undone will be published next month in the most comprehensive survey on Freud’s work to date by the art critic William Feaver. Advance copies of the book, published by Rizzoli, are available at Koenig (B7). In his introductory essay, Mr Feaver says: “Besides painting [Bacon] more than once he drew him a number of times, most notably in a set of three drawings [the other drawing is owned by the artist R.B.Kitaj] showing him parading himself, shirt open and fly buttons undone.” The introduction includes Freud’s description of how the works originated: “[Bacon] said ‘I think you ought to do this because I think it’s rather important,’ so I did.”
Originally appeared in The Art Newspaper as 'Bacon unzipped'