COLLECTION NAME:
Undergraduate Thesis Collection
Record
Title:
When Words Aren’t Enough: Echoes of Francis Bacon’s Art in Christopher Nolan’s Films
Creator:
Calabrese, Mckay
Subject:
Thesis (B.F.A.) -- Art History
Subject:
Savannah College of Art and Design -- Department of Art History
Rights:
Copyright is retained by the authors or artists of items in this collection, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
Abstract:
“The mid–twentieth century painter Francis Bacon is a formative influence on the film director Christopher Nolan, who has drawn upon the British modernist’s style and conceptual references throughout his career. This aspect of Nolan’s practice has received little attention in scholarly literature about the filmmaker. Specific examples of Nolan’s references to Bacon’s paintings appears in The Dark Knight (2008) and Inception (2010). One example of this impact appears in Inception, which draws from the artist’s biography to structure its central love story. Nolan’s creative conscious echoing of Bacon’s tragic love story to reveal plot and character relationships in Inception was unique and has been overlooked by scholars. In addition to drawing inspiration from the painter’s life in the scriptwriting of Inception, this influence can also be noticed in Nolan’s cinematography, and mise–en–scène. After World War II, Bacon’s sense of life and death was altered, and his paintings reflected the dull and war torn state of the world that he lived in. Bacon’s work highlights the grotesque nature of humanity, showing blood, limbs, and disfigured faces as seen in his 1967 Study for Head of Isabel Rawsthorne and George Dyer which appears in Inception. In this film, Nolan toggles with the ideas of a dysfunctional reality and tragedy by using the portrait study. Bacon’s themes on post–war life are also present in The Dark Knight, in which Nolan was tasked with reinventing the classic story of Batman and villains like the Joker, in which he drew inspiration from paintings such as Bacon’s Triptych: Three Studies For A Self Portrait (1967). By using themes and imagery from a modern post–war artist, Nolan is emphasizing the shift in which humanity was discussed, thus contributing to Nolan’s reputation as a twenty–first century auteur, and creating films with original identities in a world where the fear of war is prevalent, especially at the time of creating The Dark Knight, when America had led its second invasion into Iraq. In his films, Nolan engages with different aspects of personal and political conflict that can also be seen in Bacon’s paintings.” –Abstract
Keywords: auteur, Christopher Nolan, cinematography, Francis Bacon, George Dyer, Inception, inspiration, mise–en–scène, modern art, Post–WWII, Study for Head of Isabel Rawsthorne and George Dyer, The Dark Knight, Three Studies for Self Portrait.
Keywords: auteur, Christopher Nolan, cinematography, Francis Bacon, George Dyer, Inception, inspiration, mise–en–scène, modern art, Post–WWII, Study for Head of Isabel Rawsthorne and George Dyer, The Dark Knight, Three Studies for Self Portrait.
Publisher:
Savannah, Georgia: Savannah College of Art and Design
Date:
2023-08
Format:
1 online resource: 1 PDF (Thesis, 39 pages, color illustrations)