FRANCIS BACON: THE BLACK TRIPTYCH

Publishing Company:
FIRST GRAPHIC NOVEL
Imprint:
AGENTED BY PEARLMAN & LACEY
Format:
ONE SHOT
Creator(s):

GRAHAM JOHNSTONE (AUTHOR)
Number of Pages:

258
Publication Date:

Unpublished
Age:
ADULT, YOUNG ADULT
Fiction/Non-Fiction
FICTION
Key words:
ART HISTORY, BIOGRAPHY, RELATIONSHIPS, CONTEMPORARY ART, PAINTING, HOMOSEXUALITY, ,
Summary:

Through the eyes of his muse, George, and a new girl at the gallery, Tara, we follow 24 hours in the life of one of the greatest artists of the 20th century, Francis Bacon (1909-1992). We meet him in 1971, anticipating the highlight of his career, a Paris retrospective, and determined that nothing will get in the way of his latest painting, to be unveiled by the French president.

Bacon himself talked of doing violence to his subjects. So who is the man who made these paintings? What kind of life inspired them? More importantly, what’s the story of the death of George, over in Paris for Bacon’s exhibition launch? Hadn’t Bacon similarly lost a previous partner?

In this tour-de-force rendering of a pivotal point in Bacon’s life, Graham Johnstone elegantly channels the controversial painter’s inspirations, and unsettling imagery, to tell the story of two fatally linked men. The Black Triptych is based on reported events, and real people in Bacon’s life: his muse George Dyer, art critics John Russell and David Sylvester, and Valerie-from-the Gallery – Bacon’s nickname for art dealer Valerie Beston. Tara – or Zara – is Johnstone’s invention.

This biopic of Bacon is a visual masterpiece: Johnstone has incorporated Bacon’s imagery and colour palette within a coherently stylistic framework, moving effortlessly between present and past and imagined future.

Longlisted for the First Graphic Novel Award in 2023. Publishing rights to Francis Bacon: The Black Triptych are represented by Corinne Pearlman for Pearlman & Lacey