Jasper Johns' work: "ridiculous" — Andy Warhol's "Death and Disaster" series: “It is dull really.” - So said Francis Bacon circa 1978 / by Guy Austin

Three Studies of Lucien Freud  by Francis Bacon. The two were very good friends.

Three Studies of Lucien Freud  by Francis Bacon. The two were very good friends.

Jasper Johns' False Start

Jasper Johns' False Start

Warhol's "Silver Car Crash." Thankfully the photograph was taken from a distance. Therein lies a mangled body hanging out of a car door. No doubt the victim's family would not be too pleased. 

Warhol's "Silver Car Crash." Thankfully the photograph was taken from a distance. Therein lies a mangled body hanging out of a car door. No doubt the victim's family would not be too pleased. 

All this caught on tape circa 1978. The Guardian has excerpts and they are quite pointed. One comment that made me sad is when Francis Bacon mentioned: "...“When I die, my paintings won’t be worth anything, I’ll be forgotten.” He definitely was not forgotten and his work inspired many contemporary painters and illustrators today. As for his work being worthless, his Three Studies of Lucien Freud sold for $142,000,000 at auction in New York. 

Lucien Freud, 1922 - 2011, Grandson of Sigmund Freud was both a spectacular fine artist but a "serial father" rumored (unlikely) to have sired up to 40-children but 14-children can be documented and acknowledged. Two from his first wife and twelve from various mistresses. (ref: Vanity Fair: Freud Interrupted.

Note: I was going to post some detailed images of Warhol's "Death and Disaster" series but I find the work vulgar and an exercise in victim humiliation. Even Sotheby's only displays them from a distance. but more on Bacon's quotes about Warhol:

From the Guardian:

Bacon was no less scathing about Warhol. On the tapes, he can be heard dismissing the 1991 pop art exhibition at the Royal Academy. Having just returned from a visit, he said: “These pictures are bad. The Andy Warhols are very bad.” […] The whole exhibition had disappointed Bacon, who added: “It is dull really. I thought it might just have some superficial excitement, but it doesn’t even have that.”

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