Flesh and Bone in Oxford

This study visit on Saturday 11 January looks at two giants of 20th-century British art renowned for creating unforgettable images of the human figure. With over 60 works on display – some of them rarely seen in public – this show will present surprising parallels in the work of these two great artists.
Despite working in different media, Francis Bacon and Henry Moore were exhibited together from the end of the Second World War until the 1960s. This new exhibition aims to bring a fresh perspective to these two artists, highlighting the important influences and experiences which they shared and exploring specific themes in their work. Bacon, who was fascinated by sculpture, evokes three dimensional figures in space. Similarly, Moore was an excellent draughtsman as can be seen from the group of poignant shelter drawings that brought him fame as a war artist in the early 1940s.
After lunch the group will visit a unique display of thirty paintings and drawings by Malcolm Morley, which spans his career from 1964 to present. Morley, born in London in 1931 and now a US citizen, was the first-ever winner of the Turner Prize in 1984. He is widely acknowledged as one of the founders of hyper-realism, which he developed as a counterpoint to pop-art in the 1960s after having attended the Royal College of Art, where he was a contemporary of both Frank Auerbach and Peter Blake.
Morley later deliberately broke away from this style to develop a highly colourful, individual and expressive style of painting, often depicting man-made disasters such as car and motorbike crashes, heightening viewers’ perceptions and expanding the possibilities for ways of seeing.
The study visit will be led by Gerald Deslandes. Places are free to OCA students. To book a place please email enquiries@oca-uk.com
Image Credit: Henry Moore in Transit, Andy Roberts, used under Creative Commons Licence