Katharina Guenther

I am very proud that my book Francis Bacon – In the Mirror of Photography. Collecting, Preparatory Practice and Painting was published by De Gruyter in May 2022. It is based on my PhD research and thus marks the end of a long and exciting journey.

Francis Bacon consistently and deliberately based his paintings on the photographic material he collected in his studios, most famously so in the last one at 7 Reece Mews, London, for this purpose. Francis Bacon – In the Mirror of Photography brings together Bacon’s pictorial springboards for the first time and delineates and interprets recurring patterns and methods, but also highlights the limitations of Bacon’s interest in photography.

Francis Bacon – In the Mirror of Photography was favourably reviewed in Fotolot (October 2022), The Burlington Magazine (March 2023, Vol. 165 | No. 1440) and the The British Art Journal (Vol. 23, No.2, Autumn 2022). It won the Offermann-Hergarten Award (University of Cologne) and the gold medal at DeutscherFotobuchpreis 2023 (German Photo Book Price) at Internationales Festival Fotografischer Bilder.