William S Burroughs Francis Bacon Documentary

During the filming for the 1982 film on William Burroughs, Arena followed him to the home and studio of old friend Francis Bacon, where he drops in for a cup of tea and a catch up. This meeting has never been broadcast, and this clip is shown uncut as the pair discuss their views on painting.
Directed by Howard Brookner and Nigel Finch
Series Editor - Anthony Wall
#burroughs #francisbacon #art #philosophy #documentary #literature
✍︎
Subscribe to @polytechnica for regular philosophy and art.

[@shuddupeyaface]

Imagine stumbling across this. You'd think it an urban legend if it wasn't actually recorded. Thanks for sharing

[@JJONNYREPP]

William S Burroughs Francis Bacon Documentary 1002am 17.9.24 both murderers in their aesthetic way.... your man FB seemed terribly taken with the fact he had company. refer to the excellent unexpurgated melvin bragg interview...

[@nimua5676]

Thanks for sharing this! What a treat, a meeting of two of the most fascinating artists of late XX century.

[@velvetclaw2316]

A couple of gossipy old queens 😂love it / bills voice is so iconic

[@Spectrescup]

I used to ba able to do quite a good Bill B impersonation, but I could only say "Alex Trocchi could find a vein in a mummy"

[@brannonmcclure6970]

Why cannot I have such wonderful men. They should still be here. We wouldn’t have to stand on their shoulders; we would be standing next to them.🧑‍🎨👨‍🎓🙏

[@Spectrescup]

@@brannonmcclure6970 they're all gone, I'm afraid. All the heroes I grew up with, from Hunter Thompson to Alex Chilton and beyond. I guess there's Iggy, John Cale...who else?

[@knowtheunknown2.0og60]

​@@Spectrescup yesssss hunter s Thompson is one of my favorite writers bacon will always be #1 in my heart on art amazing to see someone else appreciate hunter

[@Vili-mf4wx]

That's a voice of a man addicted to opiates. That somehow makes you sound like that. Kind of lethargic

[@davidballantyne3079]

Whoever uploaded this you're a diamond. When I was an art student at the start of the 80s, our polytechnic library had a new betamax video machine and they had tapes of arts related programmes that you could watch in a little side room. The 2 videos I remember watching the most were both from bbcs Arena arts programme. One was called something like 8 days in September and was a documentary about the British abstract artist John Hoyland struggling with a new painting over a series of days intercut with comments and interviews and the other was a fantastic documentary about William Burroughs which is now in the Criterion collection. I remember the brief section in the documentary where Burroughs is in concersation with Bacon (both creators I liked and was interested in), it lasts maybe 90 seconds, and I remember thinking how much I would love to see the rest of the footage that must have been shot. Over the last few years bits and pieces have turned up on KZbin but stumbling across this in the early hours of this morning whilst, sleepless and full of a dreadful cold was such a treat. How rare it is to eavesdrop on to great artists chewing the fat and how much more interesting and candid are their remarks than what we will get in the majority of formal interviews that were conducted in their life time. As always with both of them there was much of interest but also at times very funny. So thanks again to the uploader a real treat and also quite touching..... Bacon seems genuinely fond of old Bill.

[@polytechnica]

Thank you for the kind words!

[@thenmymindsplitopen]

I can watch stuff like this for hours. And I've done so in the past. Another KZbin treasure find. Two pure artists, their life was their art. The product was secondary. Genius on display

[@adamwright4135]

You'd probably enjoy both volumes of The Letters of William S. Burroughs. I found them fascinating

[@dshe8637]

I'd rather be remembered for my art, not my personal life if I was Bacon 😮

[@GrantTarredus]

That their lives were their primary works, their physical products secondary is a fine point, and to we who agree a stunning thing in view of the quality of the products. Even if they themselves disagreed the subject would be a purely biographical question, not an aesthetic argument.

[@frankierodriguez8661]

This is the most interesting thing I've came across in years. Thanks a million for sharing. I'm really delighted. What a wonderful pair of geniuses.

[@hughiedavies6069]

Interesting to Burroughs and Bacon having a conversation, I just wish William Burroughs had said more about magnetic energy and immortality , but Francis didn't seem interested . Thanks for posting this bit of history 👍

[@jerzykaltenberg298]

yes, he must have not been hallucinating then. Uncle bill knew the difference between his fancies and the world of the real - when he wasn't off his tits on something - but anyone who buys the notions of un-aging or eternal life is buying into a literal pipedream of a lifelong junky. A lovely, intelligent, culturally seminal and profound junky, but a junky nevertheless. I think Hunter Thompson summarized it best: “We are all wired into a survival trip now. No more of the speed that fueled that 60's. That was the fatal flaw in Tim Leary's trip. He crashed around America selling "consciousness expansion" without ever giving a thought to the grim meat-hook realities that were lying in wait for all the people who took him seriously... All those pathetically eager acid freaks who thought they could buy Peace and Understanding for three bucks a hit. But their loss and failure is ours too. What Leary took down with him was the central illusion of a whole life-style that he helped create... a generation of permanent cripples, failed seekers, who never understood the essential old-mystic fallacy of the Acid Culture: the desperate assumption that somebody... or at least some force - is tending the light at the end of the tunnel.” Well, nothing profound tends that light, perhaps a train driver does, and he will giggle manically as the train of reality grinds you into dust.

[@paintedportraits3037]

What an amazing treat. Thank you so much for the upload.

[@JimOverbeckgenius]

I had the opportunity to meet both of them circa 60 years ago whilst living in Chelsea = turned down a Burroughs invite & when Lucian Freud remarked Francis is the wisest man he'd ever met, I replied Until now.

[@jamesbogart]

Yeah ok.

[@giovanna722]

​@@SmithMrCoronaThought the same.

[@darylcumming7119]

Two of the creative minds of the twentieth century .

[@velvetclaw2316]

I get the sense that bill is more conscious of the camera showing off a bit but Francis seems unaware and unbothered - this is so good

[@thorlivingstone6873]

Yes,camera moving like an owl head ...all a bit forced like : ok we legends got to deliver some material for generations to come,lets not get too strange.

[@TheJohnnyCalifornia]

It is interesting to listen to two geniuses in the field basically ramble and name-drop as much as any no names coming up in the theater, art or show business communities.

[@anauldlad]

Bacon states: "Imagine ending up in Málaga, being looked after by nuns. ... Can you imagine anything worse?" Only to spend his last days in this way..." 😟

[@shelley2he844]

It makes me wonder, it really does. It's so ironic.

[@BNardolilli]

was about to post the same thing

[@christianrokicki]

Sounds kinda hot to me…

[@jackfirmin5814]

Dear Burroughs Fans, you might have missed that a new book about and with him was published. its called "soft need 23", and includes a lot of fresh material by him, his colleagues and friends! It turned out amazing, check it out.

[@keltyk]

Burroughs was diverted in his attempts to give the punchline to his mummy routine: Immortality, in the Egyptian custom, cost a lot. It depended on a sound mummy. So you show up in the afterlife (The Western Lands) with a mummification you got on the cheap. You get refused entry to a restaurant there. The sign above the door says, "maggoty mummies will not be served in these premises"

[@GrantTarredus]

Thanks for reminding me! I haven’t read the book since it was new and I no longer own it, but you sent me to Apple Music where I enjoyed listening to him read “The Mummy Piece” on The Best of William Burroughs from Giorno Poetry Systems. I’d put the link here but that’s a KZbin no-no, I think (and the album’s probably right here on YT, anyway). So I thank you again.

[@JJONNYREPP]

William S Burroughs Francis Bacon Documentary 1007am 17.9.24 or in eternity.... that said they wouldn't get served in the ritz, either...i think the joke lay in the word Lot....

[@jamesbogart]

A big glass of Baileys Irish Cream starts to work on Francis and he opens up " no I dont like the bitch" " They know fuck all about art".😆😆😆

[@JJONNYREPP]

William S Burroughs Francis Bacon Documentary 1008am 17.9.24 asthma's a cunt of a disease. they say it's a disease... though biologists, attractive ones at that, suggest it's a mere malady. if you have ever suffered it you know how vile it is as are the people who induce it - horse traders, stable hands, farmers, loft insulators (wear a mask if yer up there!!!)... all frauds to boot the idiots who induce asthma... bacon would have called them much worse. therein lies his irritability. not due to psychotic parenting or communal relations but due to his asthma. simple. bin bangers along with car drivers aint welcome. they haven't relaised this yet... bravo bacon me old butty.

[@furward4510]

They hold a conversation like a pair of old women waiting for a bus

[@JJONNYREPP]

William S Burroughs Francis Bacon Documentary 1023am 17.9.24 ok i'll lay it on the line for you: burroughs used to freak out his drug dealers by walking into lower new york dressed in a three piece suit. the only amusing anecdote i read about him....

[@henryheartbreak795]

A junky and a lush reminiscing Algiers, discussing art and asking 'do you know so-and-so'... the body language is inneresting and reminds me of many drunken convo's I've had with my favourite junky.x

[@friedricengravy6646]

Bacon sounds like Arthur 🎩 from the film of the same name lol. Im a huge fan, so no disrespect intended. Just a light hearted response to his speech & intonation. 🥳

[@markewings7525]

He was too pissed

[@edwardanderson2717]

Ha ha Dudley Moore !! Totally reminds me of the great and missed DM fried rices n gravy ! I love el hombres accent swell ,

[@MissPerriwinkle]

gosh Burroughs is brilliant. Bacon is fascinating.....

[@warlockofwordschannel7901]

Both incredible iconic artists of the 20th century!

[@the_grand_tourer]

Wow! what a treasure, I had no idea of their friendship. If there was no connection the idea of putting them together in conversation would be unheard of.

[@thewrinklingbrothers]

What an amazing document.

[@leeshiflett1863]

Right on! This is great!

[@DoctorVinnieBoombatz]

People used to be capable of the art of conversation.

[@SilentBill-ze1gf]

these guys are not flaming they are on FIRE

[@RubyMarkLindMilly]

Darn it I so wanted that opinion on Hockney 😂

[@ClementGreen]

Burroughs - what a wonderful voice! Committed suicide in the Warhol diaries. Mind you, two of Bacon's boyfriends killed themselves

[@timelordvictorious]

What a great documentary

[@chaimaeng]

How is it possible to have subtitles for the video? I can't understand everything that is being said here. Thank you.

[@Goomer]

I was fortunate enough to be an audio engineer on "Paul Bowles - Black Star At The Point Of Darkness" was interesting to hear him mentioned.

[@liammcooper]

hilarious ending

[@zamiadams4343]

BRILLIANT! Thank you!

[@billdauphine951]

Pioneers of the dark art..(now peaked and it's almost passe)..

[@vatchesolakian6361]

Duchamp said something along the lines of "give me the man not the art " ... the mundane everyday things a great artist does is often much more interesting, like stirring a cup of tea .

[@JJONNYREPP]

William S Burroughs Francis Bacon Documentary 1020am 17.9.24 mundanity has killed comedy. all comedy now is mundane observation. this is due to the paranoiac who could not stand wondering what folk were laughing it. he'll probably stand for a chuckle... nothing more. and, at times, not even that..... boo and hisss banality for humorous ends.

[@geinikan1kan]

This film is amazing. In many ways they were similar personalities in different media. “ Do you like David Hockney?” I would love to hear Bacon’s what I’m sure would have been unconditional admiration for a national painter like Hockney.

[@sln101]

Actually he had no time for hockneys work ...

[@pedroparamo7351]

No, he didn't like Hockney's work at all. I don't have the link, but there's an interview with Bacon where he dismisses Hockney's art. He said something like Hockney's paintings looked like illustrations for Marie Claire (magazine). It figures, because both of them, as painters, had a completely different approach.

[@geinikan1kan]

@@pedroparamo7351 I was being a tad sarcastic. I like both artists, but from this wonderful conversation, it's clear Bacon was in a constant state of positioning himself competitively with regard to other painters. Bourdieu spoke about artistic competition in "The Rules of Art."

[@thisisit333]

I would have liked to have seen Dennis Hopper in a version of Junkie. Shame it wasn’t made.

[@ivanconnolly7332]

Bacon says "can you think of anything more horrible ,looked after by nuns ", he died in the care of nuns!.

[@giovanna722]

Let's hope he had changed his mind by then!

[@jamesrippner672]

Bacon is the Burroughs of painting, and Burroughs is the Bacon of writing

[@BuJammy]

The drug they are referring to is quinine.

[@Spectrescup]

I seriously doubt that.

[@polarbearsrus6980]

Thanks for sharing!!!

[@marrakechsportracer4170]

Very interesting that these fellows met in time,.I always wondered if Bacon or Bourroughs ever ran across Crowley in there youths?

[@KeithOtisEdwards]

I wish I had as deep and masculine voice as Burroughs had. Being from the Midwest, we're both equally nasal.

[@giovanna722]

Wow, Burroughs rarely stops moving during the entire interview. Beautiful taste in clothes.

[@PhilipBowden-oz7mm]

Monty python " do you want to come round to my house? Yeah alright

[@hrtdinasaurette3020]

Thank you ❤

[@tucan6570]

do you think they ever kissed ?

[@zachsharp4564]

I don’t think Bacon was too into kissing, knowing his extreme sexual proclivities. He might have asked Burroughs to shoot him…

[@kerryogrady3637]

Bills voice,so fuckin cool,a true icon,you're never going to see men like these again...

[@aysheaahmed348]

Wonderful Thankyou

[@timelordvictorious]

Presume they didn’t want to upset David Hockney if bacon said he hated him 😂

[@RubyMarkLindMilly]

Fascinating listening to genius

[@mesasavage]

How fantastic. Now lets find one where Picasso and Dali chat. I imagine they would start with tea and end with a slap fight.

[@PhilipBowden-oz7mm]

What you are going to get into space has yet to be discovered

[@Tekknorg]

I cant believe it. U L T I M A T E

[@PhilipBowden-oz7mm]

It's the Avon lady

[@pitchforkcustom]

burroughs so distant it’s fascinating .. you’re sitting with francis vacon mate!!

[@johnsewell6593]

I am aware of Burroughs , but I've never heard of this edition of Francis Bacon. Hopefully someone can fill me in. Question : is Burroughs a homosexual ? I mean an admitted one.....big difference. Question : when was this filmed and where....Thanks in advance for any info......

[@alanomofo]

Yes Burroughs is a bisexual. He had a wife but also dated men . His book queer was a good look into early gay culture . At that time it was crazy to be an open homosexual.

[@JJONNYREPP]

William S Burroughs Francis Bacon Documentary 1012am 17.9.24 go ask burroughs. you'll find him in the parking Lot trynna gain admittance to a maggoty famed cafe bar....he killed his wife. they say. even that could be his writer's whimsy conversing. i dont pry beyond the statement made... so being married to a woman might suggest a few things... your attitude would see you accuse someone of being homosexual to find they had kids. stopping you dead in the street. in your tracks. i had my naked lunch stolen. not me personally. i didnt say go and steal it. they stole it along with magic mountain.

[@electricrussell]

I’d love to burrough some bacon right now

[@PhilipBowden-oz7mm]

Night of the iguana. The glass menagerie

[@reaganwiles_art]

this is rad

[@TheDreadfulCurtain]

Who are they talking about ?

[@andrewfoster883]

I take it this would be at 7 Reece Mews, London

[@Null257]

I almost can't believe this is real.

[@kimsherlock8969]

Interesting 😊

[@temporoboto]

💙

[@danieleiland1]

So? What did Francis Bacon think of David Hockney? I must know!

[@regenerate2768]

10:48 when you can’t look it up

[@arawiri]

Bacon and eggs, that all im saying.

[@johneeeemarry34]

Under the raining bride umbrella…. How old were the rent boys….

[@po4ti4to]

"that electromagnetic field can be moved, it can be reduced to virus-crystal" - wisdom!!

[@barflytom3273]

Does anybody remember that Burroughs killed his wife. shot her in the head.

[@cargumdeu]

Fallen angels.

[@PhilipBowden-oz7mm]

Look at rick astley

[@simonirvine0000]

They look so shady. They remind me of 1970's bank robbers.

[@shenanigans3710]

Never got to hear if he liked Hockney! Damn

[@jamesbogart]

" He's such rubbish" Francis Bacon on Hockney.

[@kevfullo]

Do you like David Hockney? Ends.

[@StephenS-2024]

Sound " lost", eh? Hehe...Hockney. He has a long reach.

[@Caligari...]

Francis Bacon has asthma , i'm sure he does not need Bill smoking .

[@marsoblivi0n945]

Quit being a cry baby. My friend had severe asthma and still smoked.

[@Spectrescup]

The petrol was still leaded, and he spent half his life in pubs. It wouldn't even have occurred to him to object to Lonesome Cowboy Bill having a quick Players.

[@alanmcbride6658]

Senior Service?

[@RubyMarkLindMilly]

Hilarious 😂

[@Verboten-xn4rx]

Jeez 😂

[@PhilipBowden-oz7mm]

Disappeared up your arm😂

[@hugojames85]

What do all of these famous and successful "artists" have in common that set them apart from ordinary people? Yes, that's right: they all had rich parents who bankrolled them throughout their entire lives, which meant that they never had to pay their own way, leaving them free to indulge their artistic fantasies to the full while still living like kings.

[@Spectrescup]

Burroughs received money from his uncle's trust fund until he was 50, but was hardly rich. Likewise Bacon lived off his mother's trust fund for a time, but it was about £3 a week which was poverty wages. What I think was truer for a larger number of artists in Britain was the post-war welfare state, which, until it's dismantling by the forces of neoliberalism, allowed perfectly normal people many years to work at their art.

[@hugojames85]

@@Spectrescup Actually, you're right: I was in various bands for years where I did a lot of the musical work and all of the non-musical work - despite having to do a shit job for 14 hours a day - while my band-mates, who had literally never done a day's work in their lives, had more than enough left over from their generous state benefits to buy copious amounts of drugs, but were so idle that I had to physically threaten them to get them to actually play gigs at all. So in reality, a return to useless rich poshos being the only people who can afford to indulge in any pastime other than working like a slave while still not making ends meet is simply the universe going back into balance. The welfare state was a 30-year aberration within our otherwise unbroken history of feudalism, but that "mistake" has been corrected now.

[@Spectrescup]

@@hugojames85 they were obviously buying the wrong sort of drugs.

[@keltyk]

@@Spectrescup The Welfare State nurtured a lot of talent, though the down side was, it encouraged laziness, and substance abuse, including pubs and beer, because those were within reach, especially with the occasional side hustle. Today, in a Britain with an overburdened Welfare State, and porous borders, there is a rapidly dwindling supply of resources. So working class artists who aren't yet successful, have to have some kind of regular job. It probably sorts out the committed ones from the lazy ones

[@Spectrescup]

@keltyk I often hear people saying they'd gladly give up working and live on the dole, but they never do, as life on the dole is miserable and has been ever since squatting was made illegal, which did nothing but aid rentiers, and you only need to read Winston Churchill's comments on the subject to understand what utter parasites these people both were and are. If the idiots hadn't voted for Brexit, our immigrants would still be mainly Europeans looking for work, rather than the commonwealth citizens who have had to make up the numbers we lost from the fall in EU numbers.

[@crunchygreentea]

Tangier was the place to be. Bacon is so sharp.

[@124Outdoor]

Tangier is still a retreat for me. Reassuringly unchanged…

[@JJONNYREPP]

William S Burroughs Francis Bacon Documentary 1011am 17.9.24 whys that so sharp a point to make... those pervs were off over to north africa for the young boys and the grade A hemp...

[@ziblot1235]

I am quitting smoking again. I use patches. It is easier tis time. I have Heart failure. If I dont quit I will die. SOONER. The last time, I missed it. The problem is, I just dont think its that bad for you. Drinking was easier. I preferred my heroin high. When I drank, it messed up my "opiate" feeling. Bill was one of my heroes. A real class act. First I liked Kerouac, then I got into Bill. Dont like the sissys.Oh well I wish heroin was legalized. I just dont think its that bad for you. Not as bad as alcohol.

[@Spectrescup]

It's not that bad for you, but it's many decades since I took it and I'm sure the stuff these days is poisonous garbage. I still know a few people on the old British system, but can literally count on the fingers of one hand those who still have diamorphine prescriptions.

[@aysheaahmed348]

I come back and watch this often 🖤

[@seabell]

"The one that does the water lilies" FFS. Two drunken old sots. Bravo to the caterpillar, who has more honesty than both of these frauds combined.

[@nycgweed]

Why frauds

[@sergez6172]

Better an entertaining fraud then a spiteful anonymous commenter.

[@jamesbogart]

Its way over your head .

[@nealcaton8522]

Well, I hope you get better.

[@Spectrescup]

You've got a playlist featuring both Primal Scream and Jordan Peterson, suggesting that your ability to identify frauds is perhaps not quite as acute as you'd have us believe.