Francis Bacon

Francis Bacon by John Deakin

“George Melly called him a “vicious little drunk of such inventive malice and implacable bitchiness that it’s surprising he didn’t choke on his own venom”. Woolworths heiress Barbara Hutton described him as “the second nastiest man I’ve ever met”. Even Daniel Farson, his most faithful friend, introduces him in his memoir sponging money in the French House, the Soho pub popular with artists and writers.

John Deakin was, by all accounts, not an easy man to like. As well as having a tongue like a file, he was a notorious miser and leech. Francis Bacon’s description offers some insight as to why. “A very amusing man,” he said. “Very sarcastic. But he needed drink more than anything else.” Deakin was a chronic alcoholic, but Bacon was the one with the limitless bar tab: his status as a photographer is almost obscured by his role as the painter’s court fool. Descriptions of Deakin are not kind: he had the “gait of a midget wrestler”, “Mickey Mouse ears”, and his pock-marked face was “wrinkled like a bloodhound’s”. In fact, after reading these accounts, pictures of Deakin provide something of an anticlimax. He was short, sure, but not actually demonic. It’s possible his personality had such a powerful effect that it rendered impartial description impossible.”

– Gordon Comstock