X

Is This Francis Bacon In Drag?


June 18, 2014 | Marina Galperina

The above image, titled Unknown Woman, 1930s, was taken Soho photographer John Deakin. It may or may not be famous artist Francis Bacon in drag.

According to The Guardian, collection manager of the Deakin Archive Paul Rousseau became a bit obsessed with this theory, proposed by commenters in a prior article. He used the same ForensicaGPS facial recognition software used by law enforcement and the CIA to match up various facial features, folds and droops between the Unknown Woman and the very, very known man. The Guardian is totally impressed with this, saying that the visual “evidence” is “if not conclusive, then certainly startling.” Except…

One question still remains. While the face is very much like Bacon’s and the mole on the model’s chest closely matches that which can be seen in the famous picture of Bacon holding two sides of meat, it is impossible to ignore the substantial cleavage… The origin of the cleavage may be one art mystery that never gets solved.

Right… What a mystery.

(Photo: John Deakin via The Guardian)