"From the screaming heads and snarling chimpanzees of the late 1940s to the anonymous figures trapped in tortured isolation some ten years later, British artist Francis Bacon during one crucial decade created many of the most central and memorable images of his entire career. The artist enters the 1950s in search of himself and his true subject; he finishes ten years later having completed some of his great masterpieces and having acquired technical mastery over one of the most disturbing and revealing visions of the twentieth century." "This book brings both Bacon the man and Bacon the painter vividly to life, focusing for the first time on this key period in his development. Michael Peppiatt, the leading authority on Bacon and a close friend of the artist for thirty years, offers a study that reveals essential keys to understanding Bacon's mysterious and subversive art." "The book presents a wide range of paintings (many of them rarely or never seen before) representing all of Bacon's major themes during the 1950s, analyses the significant developments in his art, and assesses the particular importance of key works." "Also included, amongst other hitherto unpublished material, are the revealing letters from Bacon to his dealer Brausen, and the artist's correspondence with his friends and patrons Robert and Lisa Sainsbury."--Jacket.