Francis Bacon

British, born Ireland, 1909-1992

Man with Dog

Francis Bacon (British, born Ireland, 1909–1992). Man with Dog, 1953. Oil on canvas, 60 x 46 inches (152 x 117 cm). Collection Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York; Gift of Seymour H. Knox, Jr., 1955 (K1955:3). © Estate of Francis Bacon / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / DACS, London.

© Estate of Francis Bacon / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / DACS, London

Image downloads are for educational use only. For all other purposes, please see our Obtaining and Using Images page.

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© Estate of Francis Bacon / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / DACS, London

Image downloads are for educational use only. For all other purposes, please see our Obtaining and Using Images page.

© Estate of Francis Bacon / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / DACS, London

Image downloads are for educational use only. For all other purposes, please see our Obtaining and Using Images page.

Man with Dog, 1953

Artwork Details

Currently on View

Collection Highlight

Materials

oil on canvas

Measurements

support: 60 x 46 inches (152 x 117 cm); framed: 62 1/4 x 48 3/8 x 2 1/4 inches (158.12 x 122.87 x 5.72 cm)

Collection Buffalo AKG Art Museum

Credit

Gift of Seymour H. Knox, Jr., 1955

Accession ID

K1955:3

Francis Bacon developed a fascination with animals, which, unlike human beings, respond to life in ways that are spontaneous, instinctual, and uninhibited. Consequently, he aimed to expose the raw emotions submerged beneath social civility through his work. The composition of Man with Dog was inspired by an image from Eadweard Muybridge’s (British, 1830–1904) 1887 time-lapse photographic series Animal Locomotion: an Electro-Photographic Investigation of Connective Phases of Animal Movements. The canine he depicts in this painting seems to be either cowering or paused for attack. Bacon wanted his compositions to remain intentionally mysterious and open to interpretation. This same dog appears in other works by Bacon, but the settings vary dramatically—from a seafront in Monte Carlo to a background partly inspired by a stadium in Germany that the Nazis adapted for the Nuremberg Rally. This painting’s motif may also reference a work that is in the Albright-Knox’s collection: Dinamismo di un cane al guinzaglio (Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash), 1912, by Giacomo Balla. Bacon may have seen Balla’s painting while it was on loan to the Tate Gallery in London during the summer of 1952, and its composition may have prompted him to depict the animal on a leash with a human companion. However, beyond these two inspirational sources, Bacon transformed the subject into a scene wrought with tension and fear.