The New York Times - 19.09.2019

C4 N THE NEW YORK TIMES, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2019

59E59 THEATERS 646-892-7999 / WWW.59E59.ORG

limited engagement through october 20 only!

F

e

rn Hill

F

e

a new comedy

by michael tucker

directed by nadia tass

GET TICKETS NOW!

AIN’T TOO PROUD

TONY AWARD WINNER Best Choreography

AIN'T TOO PROUD THE LIFE AND TIMES OF THE TEMPTATIONS Book by DOMINIQUE MORISSEAU Music and Lyrics from THE LEGENDARY MOTOWN CATALOG Based on the Book Entitled THE TEMPTATIONS by OTIS WILLIAMS Music by Arrangement with SONY/ATV MUSIC PUBLISHING Choreographed by SERGIO TRUJILLO Directed by DES McANUFF Telecharge.com or 212-239-6200 AintTooProudMusical.com Sun 3; T 7; W 2&7:30;Th 7; F8; Sat 2&8 Imperial Theatre (+), 249 W. 45th St.

“FABULOUS & EXTRAVAGANT!” The New York Times DISNEY presents ALADDIN The Hit Broadway Musical GREAT SEATS AVAILABLE NOW Tonight at 7 Now Playing Monday Nights! M7;W7;Th7;F8;Sa2&8;Su1&6:30 AladdinTheMusical.com 866-870-2717 New Amsterdam Theatre (+) 214 W. 42 St.

FINAL BROADWAY PERFORMANCE OCTOBER 27 Tonight at 7 BEAUTIFUL THE CAROLE KING MUSICAL Tu7; We 2; Th 7; Fr 8; Sa 2&8; Su 2&7 Telecharge.com/212-239-6200 Groups of 10+ 1-800- BROADWAY ext. 2 http://www.BeautifulOnBroadway.com Stephen Sondheim Theatre 124 W 43rd St

“SHAMELESS, NUTTY, ROLLICKING FUN!”

Daily Beast
BEETLEJUICE
The Musical. The Musical. The Musical.
Telecharge.comor 212-239-6200
Groups (12+): 866-302-0995
Tu/Th 7, Wed/Sat 2 & 8, Fri 8, Sun 3
http://www.BeetlejuiceBroadway.com
Winter Garden Theatre - 50th St. & Bway

NYT Critic's Pick “BETRAYAL HAS NEVER BEEN DONE FULL JUSTICE ON BROADWAY. UNTIL NOW. ONE OF THOSE RARE SHOWS ISEEMDESTINED TO THINK ABOUT FOREVER.”

Ben Brantley, The New York Times
TOM HIDDLESTON
ZAWE ASHTON CHARLIE COX
BETRAYAL
By Harold Pinter Directed by Jamie Lloyd
TONIGHT AT 7pm
Tue, Thu at 7pm; Wed at 2pm & 7pm
Fri at 8pm; Sat at 2pm & 8pm; Sun at 3pm
Tickets from $25
BetrayalOnBroadway.com
Telecharge.com or 212-239-6200
Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, 242 W 45 St.

“Beautifully gives people reason to COME TO THE THEATER - AND COME TOGETHER.”

Chicago Tribune
TODAY AT 7
COME FROM AWAY
The Hit Musical Based On
The Remarkable True Story
ComeFromAway.com
Tu-Th 7; We, Sa 2; Fr, Sa 8; Su 3
Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre (+)

DISNEY presents FROZEN The Hit Broadway Musical “AMAZING special effects EYE-POPPING costumes, and INCREDIBLE performances!” -Newsday Great Seats Available Now Tonight at 7 T7;W7;Th7;F8;Sa2&8;Su1&6:30 FrozenTheMusical.com 866-870-2717 St. James Theatre (+) 246 W 44th St.

Tonight at 7 8 TONY AWARDS INCLUDING BEST MUSICAL “THE HOTTEST TICKET IN TOWN” -Wall Street Journal HADESTOWN By ANAIS MITCHELL Directed by RACHEL CHAVKIN Hadestown.com Walter Kerr Theatre, 219 W. 48th St.

“HILARIOUS, SPLASHY AND UNMISTAKABLY BY TINA FEY!”

New York Magazine
MEAN GIRLS
Book by TINA FEY
MusicbyJEFFRICHMOND
Lyrics by NELL BENJAMIN
Directed & Choreographed by
CASEY NICHOLAW
Groups: 1-800-BROADWAYx2
MeanGirlsOnBroadway.com
August Wilson Theatre (+), 245 W. 52 St.

Today at 2pm & 8pm “Spectacular! Euphoric! In 'Moulin Rouge,' life is beautiful.”

The New York Times
Baz Luhrmann's
RevolutionaryFilmComestoLife
MOULIN ROUGE!
THE MUSICAL
Book by John Logan
Directed by Alex Timbers
Ticketmaster.com or 877-250-2929
Groups: 1-800-BROADWAY x2
MoulinRougeMusical.com
Al Hirschfeld Theatre (+),302 W. 45TH ST.

WINNER! BEST MUSICAL TONY AWARD

WINNER! BEST MUSICAL OLIVIER AWARD

WINNER! BEST MUSICAL DRAMA DESK AWARD

WINNER! BEST MUSICAL OUTER CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD

WINNER! BEST MUSICAL ALBUM GRAMMY AWARD TONIGHT AT 7 TOMORROW AT 8, SATURDAY AT 2 & 8 “THE BEST MUSICAL OF THIS CENTURY.”

Ben Brantley, The New York Times

THE BOOK OF MORMON 877-250-2929 or Ticketmaster.com Groups 10+: 866-302-0995 BookOfMormonBroadway.com Tue-Thu7;Fri8;Sat2&8;Sun2&7 Eugene O'Neill Theatre (+), 230 W 49th St

TONIGHT AT 8PM Limited Engagement - 10 Weeks Only! “IMPRESSIVE! IT SHINES A BRIGHT, CLEAR LIGHT ON A PIVOTAL MOMENT IN AMERICAN HISTORY.” - NY Times “A MASTERWORK THAT DEMANDS TO BE SEEN.” - Broadway World “PANORAMIC AND ENTHRALLING.”

Seattle Times
BRIAN COX is LBJ
THE GREAT SOCIETY
Written by Robert Schenkkan
Directed by Bill Rauch
GreatSocietyBroadway.com
VIVIAN BEAUMONT THEATER (+)
150 W. 65th St.

“HERE IS THE PLAY of this year and last year and quite possibly next year as well.”

Evening Standard
PREVIEWS BEGIN SEPTEMBER 27
THE INHERITANCE
A New Play. Generations in the Making.
212-239-6200 / TheInheritancePlay.com
Ethel Barrymore Theatre (+), 243 W 47 St.

PERFORMANCES BEGIN TOMORROW 16 Weeks Only! Must Close January 5 THE LIGHTNING THIEF THE PERCY JACKSON MUSICAL “A colossal hit!”- Broadway World “Hitsthe sweet spot!” - WSJ Telecharge.com or 212-239-6200 LightningThiefMusical.com Longacre Theatre (+), 220 W. 48th St.

DISNEY presents THE LION KING The Award-Winning Best Musical Tonight at 8 This Week: Th 8; F 8; Sa 2&8; Su 1&6:30 Next Wk: T7; W7; Th8; F8; Sa2&8; Su 6:30 lionking.com 866-870-2717 Minskoff Theatre (+), B'way & 45th Street

Today at 2 & 8 Andrew Lloyd Webber's THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA Directed by Harold Prince Mon8; Tue 7; Wed - Sat 8; Thu & Sat 2 Visit Telecharge.com; Call 212-239-6200 Grps: 800-BROADWAY or 866-302-0995 Majestic Theatre (+) 247 W. 44th St.

Previews Begin Tonight at 8 Marisa Tomei THE ROSE TATTOO By Tennessee Williams Directed by Trip Cullman RoundaboutTheatre.org/212.719.1300 American Airlines Theatre (+), 227 W. 42nd St.

TONIGHT AT 8PM “A PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER. AN ASTONISHING NEW PLAY!”

The New York Times
MARY-LOUISE PARKER in
THE SOUND INSIDE
with Will Hochman
Written by Adam Rapp
Directed by David Cromer
Tue, Thu-Fri at 8pm;
Wed, Sat at 2pm & 8pm; Sun at 3pm
SoundInsideBroadway.com
STUDIO 54, 254 West 54th St

TONIGHT AT 7, TOMORROW AT 8 BEST AVAILABILITY DECEMBER

NEW YORK TIMES CRITIC'S PICK “A GENUINELY RADICAL NEW PLAY THAT FITS THIS RIVEN AMERICAN MOMENT. I EMBRACE IT.” Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune

JEFF DANIELS is ATTICUS FINCH in

HARPER LEE'S TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD A NEW PLAY BY AARON SORKIN DIRECTED BY BARTLETT SHER Telecharge.com or 212-239-6200 Groups 12+: 866-302-0995 ToKillAMockingbirdBroadway.com Shubert Theatre (+), 225 W 44th St

Tomorrow at 8 NEW YORK TIMES CRITIC'S PICK “The funniest musical of the season!” -Rolling Stone

TOOTSIE The Comedy Musical TootsieMusical.com or 877.250.2929 Marquis Theatre (+), 210 W. 46th St.

Starring Grammy Nominee Jordin Sparks WAITRESS Music and Lyrics by Sara Bareilles Tonight at 7 Book by Jessie Nelson Directedby Diane Paulus WaitressTheMusical.com Ticketmaster.com / 877-250-2929 Mon, Tue, Thu 7; Fri 8; Sat 2&8; Sun 2&7 Brooks Atkinson Theatre (+), 256 W 47 St

“A MAGICAL BROADWAY MUSICAL WITH BRAINS, HEART AND COURAGE.” -Time Magazine Tonight at 7 WICKED WickedtheMusical.com Tu-Th 7; Fr 8; Sa 2&8; Su 2&7 Ticketmaster.com or 877-250-2929 Groups: 646-289-6885/877-321-0020 Gershwin Theatre(+) 222 West 51st St.

Fer

n Hill Limited Engagement Thru Oct 20 FERN HILL Falling in love is easy... the hard part is the next 40 years. A New Comedy Written by Michael Tucker Directedby Nadia Tass Tue-Fri 7;Sat 2 & 7; Sun 2 http://www.59E59.org / 646-892-7999 59E59 Theaters (+), 59 E 59th St.

WINNER! BEST MUSICAL REVIVAL 2019 Drama Desk Award 2019 Outer Critics Circle Award FIDDLER ON THE ROOF In Yiddish with English Supertitles Directedby JOEL GREY Tue, Thu 7; Wed, Sat 2&8; Fri 8; Sun 3 FiddlerNYC.com or 212-239-6200 Groups (12+): 866-302-0995 Stage 42 (+), 422 W. 42nd Street

Tonight at 7:30pm “A Kiss and Tell-All!” - Citi Tour L.O.V.E.R. Written & Performed by Lois Robbins Directed by Karen Carpenter Tue,Thu-Fri 7:30; Wed & Sun 2; Sat 8 LoverThePlay.com / 212-279-4200 The Pershing Square Signature Center 480 W. 42nd St.

“Hilarious! Nonstop pandemonium!” - EW THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG TONIGHT AT 7 Telecharge.com or 212-239-6200 BroadwayGoesWrong.com Mo 7; We 7; Th 7; Fr 8; Sa 2 & 8; Su 2 & 7 New World Stages (+), 340 W. 50th St.

BROADWAY

OFF−BROADWAY

PARIS — If good artists borrow while the
great ones steal, then Francis Bacon was a
particularly savvy thief. His list of artistic
influences is a mile long, from Diego
Velázquez’s dark Catholic imagery to Picas-
so’s fragmented perspectives.
But perhaps more than any painterly in-
fluence, literature shaped Bacon’s art. He
thrived off the tragedies, the ideas and the
fictions of others.
“I call it my imagination material,” he told
the French photographer Francis Giaco-
betti in 1991, during his last interview, refer-
ring to his immense collection of books and
photographs. “I need to visualize things
that lead me to other forms, that lead me to
visualize forms that lead me to other forms
or subjects, details, images that influence
my nervous system and transform the basic
idea.”
“Bacon: Books and Painting,” a new exhi-
bition at the Pompidou Center here through
Jan. 20, brings together about 60 of the art-
ist’s paintings to investigate how literature
influenced his work.
“I had the sense that some of these books,
put together, could give a real sense of Ba-
con’s project,” said Didier Ottinger, the
show’s curator. “I thought, ‘Wow, this man is
not using books as decoration.’ ”
Bacon had an enormous library in his
London studio, where books were scattered
among shelves and on the floor. Since his
death in 1992, about 1,300 of them now be-
long to Trinity College in Dublin.
Bacon read, marked up and often memo-
rized the works of Aeschylus, Shakespeare,
Racine, Balzac, Nietzsche, Georges Ba-
taille, Freud, T. S. Eliot, Joseph Conrad,
Proust and others. In a 1966 interview with
the British art critic David Sylvester, the
painter said he knew some of them “by
heart.”
Michael Peppiatt, a friend and biogra-
pher of Bacon, said in a telephone interview
that “like his taste for the very great artists,
like Michelangelo and Velásquez, his liter-
ary icons also tended to be monuments.”
Mr. Peppiatt, who befriended Bacon in
1963, added that some of the painter’s favor-
ites — Proust’s “In Search of Lost Time,” El-
iot’s “Four Quartets” and Conrad’s “Heart
of Darkness” — were “isolated peaks of lit-
erature, and Bacon was his own kind of iso-

lated peak.” A thread that connects the writers he loved is that they stood against the values of their time, opposing dogmas, whether religious or political. Like Bacon, they wouldn’t be dictated to. For the artist, this was perhaps because his early life was stifled by conformity. Ba- con was born into a posh family in Dublin in 1909: His father, Anthony Edward, was a military captain, and his mother, Christina, an heiress to a coal and steel fortune. Family relations were tense, especially with his father, who discovered the teenage Bacon dressing in women’s clothes several times. Bacon left home on poor terms with his family, in 1926, and settled in London two years later. His homosexuality and, later, his atheism would keep him at odds with his conserva- tive family throughout his life. He was in near-constant search of a father figure, using prostitutes and lovers in this quest and frequently entering into abusive relation- ships. Books became a way for the painter to create a new version of himself and to find guidance where he had little. “He quite liked stark, tragic stories because he thought of his life as quite a stark, tragic story,” Mr. Peppiatt said. “He looked for other people who’d also looked down into the darkness.” Bataille’s writings helped open Bacon to his sexuality; Nietzsche gave him a path to existential meaning without religious con- viction; and Aeschylus gave Bacon a grand way to conceive of his own personal tragedies, which included the death of his partner of about eight years, George Dyer, of a drug and alcohol overdose. Aeschylus, in particular, had a special place in Bacon’s life. No writer, he believed, captured tragedy quite as he did. In 1985, he told an interviewer on British television that a phrase from the Greek playwright, “The reek of human blood smiles out at me,”

evoked in him “the most exciting images.” Bacon’s “Second Version of Triptych 1944,” from 1988 — a triptych of disembod- ied mouths and sets of ghoulish teeth that’s on show at the Pompidou — combined Ba- con’s love for Aeschylus’ violent phrase with the sexual frankness of Bataille’s writings. Mr. Ottinger said this painting was, like so many of the works in the exhibition, an indirect investigation of Bacon’s personal demons: in this case, his sexuality and Dyer’s death. Bacon was sometimes explicit about his literary inspirations, as with “Triptych In- spired by the Oresteia of Aeschylus” (1981), which depicts the three-part tragedy with mutilated bodies, flayed backs and a dead body that appears to hold a doe’s head on a plate. At other times Bacon’s influences show more subtly. Mr. Ottinger said that in “Study from the Human Body and Portrait,” from 1988, Ba- con took inspiration from Eliot’s multiplici- ty of poetic fragments in “The Waste Land” to make a multilayered painting with aerosol paint and a dry transfer lettering. This mirrored the epic poem’s “fragmented construction and its collage of languages and multiple tales,” he said. Catherine Howe, an art historian who specializes in Bacon, said in a telephone interview that the painter was “interested in this kind of Modernist rule-breaking, how one formally goes about altering painting to convey a sensation.” “He used to quote from Valéry and say, ‘I’m conveying the related sensation without the boredom of its conveyance,’ which is

a very modern notion of bypassing narra- tive,” she added. This means that sometimes the artist’s literary references are basically inscruta- ble, as in “Triptych Inspired by T. S. Eliot’s ‘Sweeney Agonistes,’ ” from 1967. In two panels of the three-part painting, lovers ca- vort on a green carpet, while in the central section an animal carcass rests against a window. It is erotic and disturbing, but what this has to do with Eliot’s unfinished verse drama is hard to say. “He didn’t like a singular interpretation of his work,” Ms. Howe said. “So I don’t think Bacon would have wanted a direct text- image comparison. It was more about the impression it had on him. But that impression was entirely personal.” Mr. Peppiatt recalled that in the mid-1970s, he helped Bacon secure an apartment in Paris, where Mr. Peppiatt was working as an arts writer and editor. They had long, languorous lunches together, and Mr. Peppiatt remembered the artist spend- ing hours at home, flitting between stacks of photographs, magazines, books, “any old stuff,” he said. Around that time, he said, Bacon de- scribed himself as being “like a grinding machine: Everything goes in and gets ground up very fine.” Bacon had a bleak outlook on life, Mr. Peppiatt said, and his favorite books and po- ems confirmed this. The lesson of the literature Bacon loved, Mr. Peppiatt added, was “that we don’t re- ally know why we’re here, that we invent our purposes, that we invent our drives and aims. And then, suddenly, we’re gone.”

Francis Bacon’s Books Weren’t Mere Display

A show looks at how Eliot,

Conrad and Aeschylus shaped

the painter’s deep, dark work.

By CODY DELISTRATY

Above, “Portrait of George Dyer in a Mirror” (1968) shows Francis Bacon’s lover, who died of a drug and alcohol overdose in 1971. Right, the center panel of “Triptych Inspired by the Oresteia of Aeschylus” (1981), which is a violent depiction of that Greek tragedy.

THE ESTATE OF FRANCIS BACON; ADAGP, PARIS AND DACS, LONDON; ARS, NY 2019; ARTIMAGE; ASTRUP FEARNLEY MUSEUM OF MODERN ART

THE ESTATE OF FRANCIS BACON; ADAGP, PARIS AND DACS, LONDON/ARTISTS RIGHTS SOCIETY (ARS), NEW YORK; ARTIMAGE; COLLECTION AGNELLI, LONDRES

The New York Times - 19.09.2019

F

e

rn Hill

F

e

Get our desktop app

Company

Features

Documentation

Resources