Art critic Michael Peppiatt has already written four books about Francis Bacon, but this new tome is a much more personal affair. He first met the charismatic Irish artist in June 1963 in Soho’s French House to request an interview for a student magazine.
Obviously taken with the young Englishman, Bacon invited him to lunch, and over oysters and Chablis, they began a friendship that would continue until Bacon’s death three decades later.
Photographer John Deakin once called Peppiatt “Bacon’s Boswell”, and this illuminating, indiscreet and booze-soaked memoir proves it’s an apt description. From grand hotels to louche clubs and casinos, the author witnessed all aspects of Bacon’s colourful life and met many of his associates – from Warhol and Lucian Freud to East End gangsters. It’s the book you should read before visiting Bacon’s notoriously messy studio, in Dublin’s Hugh Lane Gallery.