See/Saw, Looking at Photographs, Geoff Dyer, Canongate, 336pp, £25 (hb)
The critic Geoff Dyer turns his erudite eye on some of the most important photographers of the past 150 years in his latest collection of essays, being published in April. Dyer follows in the footsteps of John Berger and Susan Sontag with this guide on how to “read a photograph”, decoding and deciphering images by August Sander, Dayanita Singh, William Eggleston and Vivian Maier, among others. In his analysis of Maier, Dyer says that “the discovery-lag [of her works posthumously] means that Maier’s work has not played its part in shaping how we see the world in the way that [Diane] Arbus’s has (even if she seems occasionally to have chanced on Arbusian subjects
“Bacon’s appeal is more than post-war angst and existential despair”
During his lifetime, Francis Bacon actively discouraged accounts of his life and work if they weren’t to his liking. But a seemingly insatiable appetite for details of the artist’s colourful life has led to a tide of publications about him, particularly after his death in 1992.
A new exhibition exploring Bacon’s fascination with animals and flesh was due to open at London’s Royal Academy of Arts this month but has been postponed due to the latest coronavirus lockdown. However, the show’s curator Michael Peppiatt has shared five of his favourite books on Bacon for those wanting to know more about the artist s life and work ahead of the exhibition s eventual opening. Peppiatt was a friend of the artist and has written several books on him, including