Wax Head of Francis Bacon

Stranded at the bottom of the canvas, the head of Francis Bacon is caught in a space as resoundingly empty and potent as those in his own paintings. At the same time, the strangely-textured, painstakingly depicted head, created with wax as well as oil and pencil, has a striking presence as well as an almost photographic accuracy. Executed in 1980-81, Wax Head of Francis Bacon is one of a large group of portraits of the painter that were created by Clare Shenstone. During her graduation show at the Royal College of Art in 1979, Shenstone was informed that a distinguished visitor had been admiring her work and wanted her to contact him. The distinguished visitor turned out to be Bacon, who initially purchased one of her works and soon asked the adulating Shenstone to create his portrait (Bacon apparently bought wine at discount prices from the Royal College's Senior Common Room, and had been visiting early in the morning to pick up a case). The pair embarked on an artistic adventure that lasted for years and resulted in almost a hundred portraits of Bacon. He was clearly drawn to the texture and composition of Shenstone's images, to their almost palpable, waxy presence that blurs the boundary between the world of the canvas and that of the viewer. In a sense, this young artist was creating works that had a strange assonance with Bacon's, an assonance that he picked up on and which drove him to ask her to paint him.

Clare Shenstone has lived several lives: she has been an It Girl, a Pop muse, an actress, a housewife, but most importantly and enduringly she has been an artist, as is reflected in the recent retrospective of her work in New York. It was after her acting, and after she had posed naked for the poster for Warhol's 1966 film Chelsea Girls, that Shenstone entered the Royal College of Art and began creating her idiosyncratic works. Bacon clearly adored her work, and even called Valerie Beston to tell her about it, encouraging her to see it for herself. On her visit, Miss Beston bought Wax Head of Francis Bacon and from that day took a deep interest in the younger artist's work, having it framed and also inviting her to view Bacon's new paintings privately on their arrival at the Marlborough Gallery.