Untitled ( Marching Figures ), 1950/2

Francis Bacon

Untitled ( Marching Figures ) ca. 1950/2

This parade of tiny figures marching through a cage-like structure that towers above them is unique in Francis Bacon's oeuvre. Nevertheless, in its composition and motifs this picture
is comparable with other early paintings, wether in terms of the contrast of large and small
figures or in terms of the motifs of the cage and the curtain.
The model for the parade may have been an illustration in the book Art. Bilan des Artes modernes en France ( 1928 ) by Amèdèe Ozenfant.
Bacon owned the english edition Foundations of Modern Art ( 1931 ) It contains a photographic image of the Soviet army marching across Red Square in front of Lenin's Mausoleum.
Here Bacon replaced the Mausoleum with the cage and Lenin with a large figure which is monumental on it's pedestal-part polar bear, part molar with bear's face.
Bacon responded to the idolization and embalming of Lenin in his own way by fetishising a lifeless tooth, to which the marching figures seem to be paying homage.