Portrait of the artist intact – Newspaper Kommersant No. 178 (7379) of 09/27/2022

On October 24, a themed auction will be held in Paris, dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the death of one of the most celebrated artists of the 20th century, Francis Bacon (1909-1992), celebrated this year. Sotheby’s will put up for sale rare lots originating from the collection of the main Bacon collector Majid Bustani and his Art Foundation Francis Bacon (The Francis Bacon MB Art Foundation, Monaco). comments Kira Dolinina.

By and large, even a couple of works by Francis Bacon would be enough to attract the attention of major collectors to the auction. Prices for his work are constantly breaking records. So, they jumped, for example, in just six years from $ 53 million in 2007 spent by the Sheikh of Qatar on “Study for a Portrait of Pope Innocent X on a Red Background” (1962), to $ 142.4 million given in November 2013 for “Three Sketches for a Portrait of Lucian Freud” (1969).

This October, Sotheby’s is unlikely to expect such an unprecedented profit – at least, there are simply no paintings of this magnitude in the list of lots. Nevertheless, the event promises to be extremely interesting. The key to this is the name of the hero of the auction, and the source of all the items presented. The auction is named in such a way that it is obvious: “Inside the world of Francis Bacon: from the collection of Majid Bustani.”

In this case, the proper name – Majid Bustani – and the common name – the Francis Bacon Art Foundation (Monaco) – are one. A Lebanese-born Swiss businessman based in Monaco who specializes in luxury real estate and lives in Monaco, Boustani fell in love with Bacon’s work at a young age and began to collect both the artist’s own works and a variety of items related to him. In 2014, he founded his foundation in Monaco, to which he donates his collection. Now 20 items from this collection will be sold, and the proceeds from the auction will go to the same fund. It is difficult to understand why this is necessary and what is the point of selling almost all the most interesting things from your collection to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the death of the great Francis Bacon. But the fact remains: in Paris from October 19, it will be possible to see, and on October 24, to buy objects that were once objects of worship for a young businessman who subtly feels “powerful images shaded by acute pain.”

The main lot of the auction will be the recently attested Bustani as his favorite painting Crouching Man (1949), which Sotheby’s estimated at €3.5–5 million. A rare and precious purchase could be the purchase of a carpet made according to a sketch by Bacon in 1929 . The fact is that very few works of the young Bacon have been preserved in general (from this time he destroyed almost everything he could personally), and even fewer items relating specifically to the period of his work as an interior designer. Meanwhile, the two-meter carpet addresses us straight to Picasso, who was an indisputable authority for the 20-year-old future painter. A special section of the October sale is occupied by photographs of Francis Bacon, among which there are pictures belonging to Cecil Beaton, Peter Beard, Don McCullin, Edward Quinn and others. According to the chief consultant of this auction, Martin Harrison, Majid Bustani’s collection is generally distinguished by a unique selection of photographs taken during Bacon’s life.

To create a “plot” for this auction and justify the place chosen for the sale, Harrison and Sotheby’s specialists turned to one of the important events in Bacon’s biography. Paris was the city by whose attention the artist himself measured his fame. And it’s not that they didn’t notice him at home, on the contrary, they loved and welcomed him as the rarest star in the British artistic horizon. But there was a lot of criticism, and even rude and harsh – such British criticism generally happens quite often to this day. In Bacon’s own imagination, only a triumph in Paris could, of course, shut up all these philistines.

And the triumph happened – in 1971, Bacon received a solo exhibition at the Grand Palais, which was achieved only by a few artists living then. This exhibition marked the end of a speculative circle that began at the moment when the 16-year-old Bacon left home and went to Paris, not even knowing that he was destined to become an artist.

Relations with Paris, with the Louvre, with specific masters, whose work he saw in the galleries and museums of the French capital, is the constant background of everything that Bacon will do during his long life. Now his collectors will let free float, in addition to large and self-valuable Baconian works, things that the master touched – for example, a palette, a postcard from Paris, a hand-written sketch with a corner of his Parisian workshop in Marais. But also the things that concerned the master – his portraits, taken in Paris, the work of artists close to him in spirit.