David Sylvester's Final Reflections on Francis Bacon Published in French

The French translation of David Sylvester's 'Looking Back at Francis Bacon' has been released as 'Francis Bacon à nouveau' by André Dimanche éditeur, translated by Jean Frémon. Sylvester, who first wrote about Bacon at age 24 in 1948, compiled this posthumous collection of essays and reviews published between 1952 and 2000, all revised for this edition. The book includes unpublished fragments from their famous 'Interviews with Francis Bacon' (Skira, 1996), offering new insights into Bacon's thoughts on Picasso, Michelangelo, and caricature. Sylvester, a critic and curator who profoundly influenced British art, maintained a close friendship with Bacon from the 1950s until Bacon's death in 1992. He refrained from writing about Bacon during their friendship to preserve critical distance. The book examines Bacon's creative process, including his destruction of works—sometimes near-masterpieces—due to perfectionism and gallery deadlines. Sylvester identifies Bacon's most accomplished periods as the post-war years until 1953 and the 1970s, culminating in triptychs created after the death of his lover George Dyer. The volume also includes a chapter of excised interview material and a concluding portrait of Bacon's dual-gendered presence.