Francis Bacon: The Logic of Sensation

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In this landmark text by one of the most influential philosophers of the twentieth century, Gilles Deleuze takes the paintings of Francis Bacon as his object of his study. The book presents a deep engagement with Bacon's work and the nature of art. Deleuze analyzes the distinctive innovations that came to mark Bacon's style: the isolation of the figure, the violation and deformations of the flesh, the complex use of color, the method of chance, and the use of the triptych form. Here Deleuze creates a number of his well-known concepts, such as the 'body without organs' and contrasts his own approach to painting with that of both the phenomenological and the art historical traditions. Deleuze links Bacon's work to Cezanne's notion of a 'logic' of sensation and, investigating this logic, explores Bacon's crucial relation to past painters such as Cezanne, Velasquez, and Soutine.

Reviews

A lively and systematic study of Bacon's work. The book is clearly organised, helping to make complicated arguments easier to follow. * Modern Painters *
A path-breaking work on the aesthetics of sensation, the philosophy of colour, on form, and on painting in general, Francis Bacon is one of the most important, if not the most crucial, of all of Deleuze's writings. * Tom Conley, Harvard University, USA *
One of Deleuzes most beautifully crafted studies, and an essential component of his aesthetic philosophy. * Southern Humanities Review *
Art historians as well as scholars of 20th century intellectual history will find this a rich mine of original thought. * Library Journal *
Long-awaited. This book is invaluable for an understanding of the trajectory of Deleuzes own thought. Offers an entry point into Deleuzes more explicitly theoretical work that simultaneously grounds and orients that theory in terms of a specific instance. * Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism *

Author Bio

Gilles Deleuze (1925-1995) was one of the key figures in poststructuralism, and one of the most influential philosophers of the 20th century. His major works include, with Felix Guattari, A Thousand Plateaus and Anti-Oedipus, also published in the Bloomsbury Revelations series.