It was in Paris in 1927, at an exhibition dedicated to Picasso, that Francis Bacon grasped his vocation as a painter. In 1946, he moved to Monaco on the French Riviera where he lived for four years, his time in the Principality marking a turning point in his art; with his popes series, he became a painter of the human figure. In Paris he befriended artists and intellectuals, such as Giacometti and Leiris, whilst the city would become the setting for the crystalisation of his reputation in 1971 with the retrospective at the Grand Palais. In 1975, Bacon would take a studio in the Marais district. This bilingual publication co-published by Albin Michel and The Francis Bacon MB Art Foundation tells of Bacon s deep ties with France and Monaco, and has been overseen by Martin Harrison, author of Francis Bacon: Catalogue Raisonne and curator of the coinciding exhibition Francis Bacon, Monaco et la culture franc aise which runs at Grimaldi Forum, Monaco from 2 July 2016 until 4 September 2

In 1949 Francis Bacon found his subject--the human body--and from then on it remained his principal theme. But he did not paint from life. Instead he appropriated images from the mass media that he manipulated into his "studies." This book presents over 200 of these documents, about which Bacon was secretive but which, it emerges, were integral to his creative process.

Culled from thousands of pieces of original material found in his studio, including newspapers, magazines, books, and photographs, these items have each been exhaustively and minutely researched, providing for the first time comprehensive details of the artist's sources. Previously unseen, these visually thrilling documents demonstrate Bacon's tactile, visceral relationship with his sources and his unerring eye for seeking out visual stimulation in the most unexpected places.

This unique selection of material from Bacon's sudio--meticulously documented and compellingly presented--will provide an invaluable insight into both the artist's work and his working methods.

Martin Harrison is the author of In Camera: Francis Bacon.

Though stage directing has traditionally been a male dominated profession, the number of women directors in the United States has grown significantly in recent years. In this work, 35 contemporary women stage directors, with regional, national and international theater backgrounds, share their views on the creative process and the influences of gender on their artistic decision making. How does it feel to be defined as a woman director rather than simply a director? Does gender affect their authority? These questions and many others are explored in this study.