John Maier

What did the Russians make of Francis Bacon?

Bacon was hardly a Soviet-friendly artist, yet his 1988 Moscow retrospective, organised with immense difficulty by James Birch, was a runaway success

Francis Bacon in 1984. [Photo by Ulf Andersen/Getty Images]

  • Bacon in Moscow

    James Birch

    Cheerio, pp. 208, £17

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