[Wikipedia Daily Article] August 9: Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion

[Faraaz Damji]

   Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion is a 1944
   triptych painted by the Irish-born artist Francis Bacon.  The work is
   based on the Eumenides, or Furies, of Aeschylus' The Oresteia, and
   depicts three writhing anthropomorphic creatures set against a flat
   orange background.  The triptych was executed in oil paint and pastel
   on Sundeala fibre board, and was completed within the space of two
   weeks.  The work summarizes themes explored in Bacon's previous
   paintings, including his examination of Picasso's biomorphs, and his
   interpretations of the Crucifixion and the Greek Furies.  Bacon did not
   realize his intention to paint a large crucifixion scene and place the
   figures at the foot of the cross.  The Three Studies triptych is
   generally considered Bacon's first mature piece; he regarded his works
   before the triptych as irrelevant, and throughout his life he tried to
   suppress their appearance in the art market.  When the painting was
   first exhibited in 1945, it caused a sensation, and helped to
   establish him as one of England's foremost post-war painters.
   Commenting on the cultural significance of Three Studies, the critic
   John Russell observed in 1971 that "there was painting in England
   before the Three Studies, and painting after them, and no one ... can
   confuse the two."

Read the rest of this article:
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Studies_for_Figures_at_the_Base_of_a_Crucifixion


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Today's selected anniversaries:

378:
   A large Roman army led by Emperor Valens was destroyed by the Goths
   in the Battle of Adrianople.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Adrianople)

1173:
   The construction of a campanile, which would eventually become the
   Leaning Tower of Pisa, began.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leaning_Tower_of_Pisa)

1945:
   World War II: USAAF bomber Bockscar dropped an atomic bomb named Fat
   Man, devastating Nagasaki, Japan.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fat_Man)

1969:
   Followers of cult leader Charles Manson brutally murdered pregnant
   actress Sharon Tate and four others in her Benedict Canyon, Los
   Angeles home.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharon_Tate)

1974:
   The Watergate scandal: Richard Nixon became the first (and to date
   only) President of the United States to resign from office.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Nixon)


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Wiktionary's Word of the day:

   parochial: Of or relating to a parish.
   (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/parochial)


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Wikiquote of the day:

   You do not chop off a section of your imaginative substance and make a
   book specifically for children, for — if you are honest — you have no
   idea where childhood ends and maturity begins.  It is all endless and
   all one.  -- P.  L.  Travers
   (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/P._L._Travers)