Study of a Dog

1953

Francis Bacon

Artist, British, 1909 - 1992

Painted entirely in shades of white, charcoal, and steel gray, a slim, white, almost ghostly dog makes its way from our left to right with its snout held low, along a sidewalk or rails in this vertical composition. The dog is thinly painted and blurry, as if shown in action, so the details are difficult to make out. The dark, gray space is defined only by three diagonals running from the center of the left edge down into the lower right corner. Within the band made by the lower two diagonals, two parallel sets of curving, parallel lines suggest grates or gutters over storm drains. Seeming unrelated to the rest of the image, three faint, gray, ruled lines radiate upward from a point near the lower-left corner to intersect the lowermost border defining the gutter.
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On View

NGA, East Building, EU-407-A, S


Artwork overview

More About this Artwork

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Artwork history & notes

Provenance

(Marlborough Gallery, London); sold 1957 to Charles Edward [1910-1971] and Ruth Fisher [1910-1990] Rhetts;[1] by inheritance to Mrs. Rhetts; gift 1976 to NGA.
[1] This information was given by Mrs. Rhetts to Charles Parkhurst, Jr., NGA's assistant director (note to the file, 10 February 1976, in NGA curatorial files). There is label from The Hanover Gallery, London, on the painting's backing board that includes Mr. Rhetts' name as owner.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1957

  • Loan to display with permanent collection, Art Institute of Chicago, 1957-1960.

2006

  • Francis Bacon. The Violence of the Real, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf, 2006-2007, no. 14, repro.

2012

  • Francis Bacon: Five Decades, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 2012-2013, unnumbered catalogue, repro.

2013

  • Francis Bacon, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo; Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Toyota-Aichi, 2013, no. 7, repro.

2017

  • Francis Bacon / Bruce Nauman. Face à face., Musée Fabre, Montpellier, 2017, no. 25, repro.

Bibliography

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 34, repro.

Wikidata ID

Q20194740


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